


Adventurs of the Omni-Triplets: Rebooted!

by DoubleWrong



Series: Adventures of the Omni-Triplets! [2]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22378213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoubleWrong/pseuds/DoubleWrong
Summary: Todd, Kate, and Matheo are back! With new villains and challenges crawling from every corner, and the mystery of a ghost-state known as 'BellWood' seems to be involved. As well as this, a new threat, known as Vilgax, is hunting the Katachi League for their Omnitrixes, and new members are joining our heroes. The only question left is: Are the Omni-Triplets up to the challenge?
Relationships: OC / OC - Relationship
Series: Adventures of the Omni-Triplets! [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610827





	1. R1: Presentation Issues!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Omni-Triplets must fight against a new threat, and Todd unlocks a new alien form!

"LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING, YOU CONSTANTLY COLLARLESS CALLIN' CANINES!" Hyu, as Rath, yelled at a nearby van full of barking dogs. "RATH HATES DOGS! BUT HE WOULDN'T HATE THEM NEARLY AS MUCH, IF THEY'D JUST SHADDUP!"

"Rath." Yunai, who was Hyu's twin sister, said as she kicked her way into the driver's seat, and was immediately attacked with a switchblade. "Would it kill you to focus on the mission at hand?!"

"This little girly's goin' down, to CHINATOWN!" The driver said, wearing a mask that resembled the face of a snake, attempting to cut Yunai's hand.

She dodged, before she punched him in the face, shattering the mask into dozens of small, tiny shards. "No thanks, the food there is TERRIBLE. Thanks for the thought, though."

"RATH DON'T CARE, BRO, NOT EVEN ENOUGH TO CARE!"

"That, quite literally, makes no sense." Besu, the third member of the team commented, cheekily, floating into scene on a DIY jetpack, and currently slicing a large hole into the back of the truck. "Are you trying to say 'Oh, I care so little, I don't even care that I don't care,' Or 'I don't care enough to create the necessary dopamine to care?' "

"AND NOBODY, QUITE LITERALLY, CARES ABOUT YOUR JARGON!" Rath shot back, before two small, mounted turrets popped out of the truck's top, and pointed themselves at him. "HA! TINY GUNS! THAT'S RICH! AND POINTLESS! AH-HA-HA-HA!"

As Rath was laughing, the turrets both fired large, glowing explosives into his face, and combusted, sending him flying off of the truck. Rath shot his tail out, and it wrapped around the door-handle of the truck, before he pulled himself back up effortlessly.

"Okay…" Rath said, glaring at the guns. "It's time for you guys to GET JAMMED!"

"Welp, this oughta be interesting." Besu said, flying into his newly made hole.

()

"What are those two doing out there?" Yunai asked herself as she tried to get a feel for the truck. "How do you drive this thing?"

The man next to her was out cold, and holding a walkie-talkie that was receiving a message of an old woman screaming through it. Yunai looked at it, before she picked up the device, and held it next to her head. The woman was currently yelling about how back in her day, a simple truck hijacking wouldn't be enough to even rattle her. Yunai tried to get a word in, to no avail, before she yelped, as she had almost crashed the truck into the side of the building.

"MA'AM!" Yunai yelled, the adrenaline allowing her to cut into the monologue. "Uh… We seem to have a small-"

"Do not interrupt me ever again, you disposable goon!" The lady said, spitting. "I swear, you'll be lucky to be alive after this!"

"Uh… The Katachi League, ma'am." Yunai said, trying to sound manly. "They've stolen our cargo! I'm trying to-!"

Interrupting herself, Yunai smashed the walkie-talkie under her foot, and sighed in relief.

"Who knew trying to talk to your boss could be so STRESSFUL?" Yunai said, half-sympathetic. "I almost feel bad for these guys…"

()

Meanwhile, Besu was currently infiltrating the truck, being careful to be quiet. He was surrounded by angry, barking dogs, all in cages. He picked one of the locks, and let out a small chihuahua, which immediately jumped at him, trying to bite his face. Besu held the dog, and put him back in the cage.

"These guys must be strays." Besu thought to himself, before he looked a couple meters to his left, and saw a box labeled 'Collars.' "Or not… I wonder if that Animo guy's behind this?"

Before he could think about this further, Rath fell through the ceiling, gnawing on a turret gun with his teeth, before he spat it out, and looked at Besu.

"What do you want?" Rath asked.

"Uh…"

"Hold on… I'm actually… Really tired, man." Rath tapped his Omnitrix symbol, and returned to Hyu. "Oh, hey, Besu! What's up?"

"You learn anything up there?" Besu said, cutting straight to the point.

"No, duh." Hyu sighed. "I black out as Rath. You know that."

"Whatever."

There was a loud, clanking sound on the doors behind them, and the twins turned around to see the doors pulled clean off their hinges, only to disappear forever behind the truck. What pulled these hinges off was a humanoid cat, with blue-and-black fur, and purple eyes. This creature was clearly taking a light jog, but was still keeping up with the truck effortlessly.

"... Who-?" Besu began, before the creature leaped into the van, and grabbed his shoulders, before throwing him into the wall of the cargo bay.

"Name's Madeline." She said, a mischievous smirk on her face. "And I've been dying to meet you, Katachi League."

"Okay…" Hyu said, scratching the back of his helmet. "Well, now's not exactly a good time for autographs…"

Madeline walked up to him, before grabbing Hyu's neck, and lifting him into the air. "I'm not here for an autograph."

Hyu kicked at Madeline's face, hitting her square in the jaw, and she let him fall to the ground. Hyu rubbed his neck, groaning, before he sighed, and stood up.

"Okay, then. What ARE you here for, then?"

"Your shape-shifting watches, duh."

"Oh, not a chance!"Hyu said, activating his Splicatrix, and slamming the core down on the first alien he got.

()

Hyu's left arm inflated at an extremely rapid rate, and the rest of his body followed suit, before his eye turned bright yellow, with red shells on the backs of his hands, legs, and his back as well. His mouth became extremely wide, and his teeth became pointed. The Omnitrix symbol was on his chest, and Hyu now began rolling as a red and black ball, before uncurling, and cracking his knuckles.

()

"CANNONBOLT!" He yelled, and curled into a ball, before speeding at Madeline, and knocking her out of the truck.

"Impressive!" Madeline shouted at him, landing on her feet. "But I'm not here to fight, really."

"Too bad!" CannonBolt replied, tearing a Stop sign out of the ground, and throwing it at Madeline. "You want the Omnitrixes? Then you've gotta take the guys who use 'em!"

"Your simplistic worldview is REALLY pissing me off!" Madeline sighed, dodging the sign, and running at CannonBolt.

Madeline's speed caused her to shoot directly into CannonBolt's gut, who promptly pushed her back out, sending her flying a dozen feet.

"Simplistic doesn't mean wrong, dudette!" CannonBolt yelled, fist-pumping.

()

Back on the truck, Yunai was still trying to stop the vehicle somehow, when Besu swung into the passenger's seat. He took one look at how she was driving, and shook his head.

"Have you NEVER driven a car in your life?" He asked, confounded.

"Oh, yeah!" Yunai said, still trying to figure out how to use a blinker. "They just handed out my honorary 10-year-old license a few years ago!"

"Move it, dude." Besu said, as they swapped seats. "I've got this."

"Finally… Huh?!" Yunai stuck her head out of the window, and saw CannonBolt and Madeline fighting. "Holy crap, I've gotta get in on that!"

"HEY!" Besu shouted, angrily turning the truck around. "Where do you think you're going?! I need you to feel inferior to me! YUNAI!"

()

Yunai mutated her back into two large wings, and flew straight at Madeline, landing a swift kick directly on the side of her face. "Loser says 'OW!' "

"OW!" Madeline said, before looking up at Yunai, growling. "Now that's just rubbing salt on the wound…"

"You said it." Yunai shrugged.

"Whatever." Madeline said, dismissively. "You'd be a fool to consider this over… SMOKE BOMB!"

Madeline threw a smoke bomb into the ground, and disappeared in the ensuing cloud of smoke. Hyu and Yunai both coughed, as the dust cleared, and saw that she had disappeared. Hyu turned back to human, snapping his fingers in defeat, just as Besu came screeching to a halt, and hopping out of the truck.

"I think she got away." Yunai sighed.

"What WAS that thing?" Besu said, walking over to his siblings.

"Whatever it was, we can't let it distract us from the fact that we've got a job to do. Let's go." Hyu motioned back to the truck. "We're not doing anything until we've gotten those dogs out of their cages."

"Agreed." Yunai gave a thumbs-up.

()

Later that night, the Triplets had returned to their rooms, now back in their respective human aliases, Todd, Matheo, and Kate. While the other twins were fast asleep, Todd was wide awake, still thinking about his encounter with Madeline.

"It sounded like she had some kinda big plan…" Todd sighed, turning over in his bed.

Todd activated his Splicatrix, and punched in a few codes, but he was hardly having any luck. Still, he'd done a couple of calculations, and found that there were only a million-ish possible combinations, with 9 characters, and 7-character code length. Assuming he stayed persistent, he could easily finish it, until he accidentally moved a digit too high, and it jumped from 9… To 10.

"What the?" Todd asked, sitting straight up in his bed, until he remembered. "Oh, yeah. Each character is just a single alien. That means instead of 1-9, it's… 0 to however many aliens I have… Oh, 17… Ugh."

In annoyance, Todd tried a few more codes, now with double-digits involved, but still, no luck.

"Geez! How many aliens does this thing have-?!"

The door to Todd's room was thrown open, and a tired, annoyed Kate glared at him. "Todd."

Todd pretended to be asleep. It didn't work.

"Todd, I'm serious, if you keep yelling, I'm gonna kill you. It's 10:00, go to bed, NOW."

"... Gonna kill ya..." Todd mimicked. "Yeah, right."

Todd was suddenly grabbed by his ankles, thrown in the air, before being body-slammed back down on his bed, causing a nearby glass of water to spill all over him.

"I'm too tired for this crap." Kate yawned, closing the door.

"Oh, great." Todd sighed, looking at his night-shirt. "Now I'm cold."

He groaned, before realizing there was an 18th slot in his roster. Todd reset the Splicatrix to default mode, and scrolled through the ring, and yes, there was now a hologram of Madeline's species, a male version, with the Omnitrix symbol on it's chest.

"Huh." Todd said, grinning like an idiot. "I've got a new alien!... And Matheo doesn't! Time to never let him live this down."

Both Kate and Matheo kicked Todd's door open.

"TODD!" Matheo yelled. "It's 10 PM!"

"Yeah, for the 2nd time, now!"

"Seriously?" Matheo asked, surprised.

"Yeah, seriously!"

"Well, I'll be."

"Guys, I can explain, I got a new alien, and-!"

"NEW ALIEN?!" Matheo checked his Optitrix, before frowning. "Hey, what the-?! Why didn't I get one?!"

"Just lucky, I guess." Todd said, smirking.

"Okay, now I'm gonna kill him… Tomorrow. Todd, go to bed."

"Fine." Todd said, as his siblings closed the door. "But not before I take this new guy for a test-drive… I've even got a name. CatClaw!"

Todd grinned, and Activated the Splicatrix, swiftly selecting CatClaw, and opening the window. Todd climbed out onto the roof of the house, closing the window behind himself quietly. Next, Todd jumped off the roof, slamming down the OmniCore, exploding in a bright flash of blue light.

()

Blue fur wrapped itself around Todd's hand, and claws grew out of each fingernail. The fur then covered the rest of Todd's body, with two large, black, furry protrusions around his eyes, resembling a mask, of sorts. He spun around in a circle.

()

"CATCLAW!" He said quickly.

CatClaw landed on a single tip-toed foot, and front flipped into a full on sprint, vaulting directly over the fence in front of him. CatClaw ran through the road nearby, and used his claws, and pure speed, in order to climb up, and over, a nearby 8-wheeled semi-truck.

"Awesome!" He yelled, grabbing onto the overhang of a stoplight, swinging around it vertically, and leaping onto a skyscraper, and zooming up the side of it. CatClaw laughed, gleefully. He'd never been so agile in any of his forms before. Up above him, there was a window-washing platform. CatClaw narrowed his eyes, and charged directly through it, causing the platform to explode into a million pieces.

"Huh." He said to himself. "Wonder why there was a platform nobody was-?"

"HELP!" A voice screamed from below CatClaw yelled.

CatClaw skidded to a stop, scratching the glass underneath him, and looked down to see a man, in light construction gear, hanging onto one of the cables that were supposed to support the window-washing platform. CatClaw ran back down the building, grabbing the man, and carrying him down to the front of the building. CatClaw safely dropped the man once they'd arrived at the entry-level.

"Thank you." The man said, before looking at the color of the Omnitrix symbol, which was blue. "Uh… Hyu, right?"

"That's me, bro." CatClaw said, flexing his arm.

"Oh, man. Henry's never gonna believe this. You're his favorite, you know!"

"Henry's… Your kid?"

"That's what they tell me." The man laughed at his own joke. "I'm Rodney, by the way."

"Well, nice to meetcha." CatClaw said.

"Wait... No autograph?" Rodney asked, confused.

"Uh, sure… Oh, sorry about your window-thingy."

"Aw, no problem. I'm sure you had a good reason, being a superhero, and all." Rodney pulled out a blurry picture of Hyu vaulting over a car, as well as a blue pen. "Take your time."

CatClaw nodded, somewhat uncomfortably, and signed the picture, before handing it back to him.

"There you go, and, for real, sorry about this whole thing." CatClaw waved goodbye, before vanishing into the distance.

()

Todd, now a human again, climbed back into his room, before the lights turned on, causing Todd to yelp as he fell face-first into the carpet. He looked up to see both of his siblings looking at him, annoyed.

"Guys!" Todd said, startled. "I didn't know you were up, at…"

Todd looked to the alarm clock on his dresser, which was currently set at 10:25 PM.

"... This time." He smiled sheepishly.

"Seriously, dude, what the heck?" Matheo asked, getting up in Todd's face.

"Back off, bro." Todd sighed, pushing him back. "I wasn't trying to-"

"Oh, we know what you trying to do!" Kate said, piercingly. "You were trying to take down Madeline, without us!"

"Yeah, I was!" Todd said, before he realized he had no clue what they were talking about.

"I knew it!" Matheo said, putting combing his scalp with his hands. "You traitor! You're trying to go solo!"

"Well, wait, guys, I don't-"

"Oh, it's not like THAT?" Matheo said.

"No!"

"... Wait a sec." Kate said, narrowing her eyes. "Do you have a CRUSH on her, bro?"

There was an uncomfortable silence in the air.

"Wha-?" Todd tried to ask.

"Of course!" Matheo shook his head. "Todd always gets hot and bothered around a girl who likes to fight!"

"Do not!" Todd yelled, and jumped at Matheo, as Kate pushed the twins away from each other. "You take that back!"

"Make me!" Matheo stuck his tongue out at Todd.

"Todd, she's a criminal, you know. And isn't she after your Splicatrix, anyways?"

"I don't KNOW!" Todd insisted. "I haven't seen her since the whole truck thing!"

"Yeah, right." Matheo said, impatient. "Madeline's on the news, and you just so happen to disappear at the exact same time. Sure."

"That wasn't Madeline on the news, you dorks!" Todd held out his Splicatrix, and set it to CatClaw's DNA sample. "It was ME."

"Wait, what?!" Matheo grabbed Todd by his shirt. "You tryna tell me you've got 18 aliens to my 16?!"

"Oh, don't get all weird." Todd said, shoving Matheo off of him. "You're a genius, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Enough, you two." Kate said. "It's way too late for this crap. You can talk about it in the morning, yeah?" She yawned, and walked out of the room.

"Seriously?" Matheo whined, as she left. "That's so not fair."

"So, just go type in a couple codes, and you're golden, bro."

"But you've got it easy, because of the touch screen, and-"

"Then, you figure it out, dude." Todd said, pushing Matheo out of his room, and closing the door. "Good night."

()

The next day, Todd was sitting in science class, looking blankly out the window, when his friend, Casey, tapped his shoulder. As Todd looked at him, Casey pointed at his phone, which was showing a video of an alien robbing a gas station in seconds, before replaying the video in slow motion, revealing the culprit was one of CatClaw's species.

"... Madeline." Todd said, quietly.

"Who?" Casey asked, confused.

"Oh." Todd said, not missing a beat. "Madeline's one of Kate's friends. She used to shop at that place all the time."

Todd had gotten awfully good at lying about this stuff. He'd had plenty of experience, though Matheo, oddly enough, seemed to nearly leak the identities of the Katachi league every chance he'd get. Kate was alright, quite a feat, what with her dozen-or-so number of friends.

"Uh, by the way…" Casey said, lowering his voice.

"Madeline's got a boyfriend." Todd said, hoping that was true.

"Shit." Casey sighed.

Todd laughed, uncomfortably. He tapped his fingers on the desk, thoughts of Madeline completely filling his brain, before he raised his hand, as calmly as he could manage. The substitute teacher, Mr. Cramb, nodded at him, before looking at his clipboard.

"Yes, er…" He squinted at it. "Stan, Tim… Ah, Todd?"

"Can I go to the bathroom, please?" Todd asked, feigning the need to relieve himself.

"Can you?" The teacher asked, trying not to burst out into laughter.

"... Er…" Todd scratched his head. "If you'd allow me to? I mean, can I just leave without asking, or-?"

"For god's sake, you're supposed to say 'May I,' kid."

"Oh." Todd tried to pretend he was surprised. "What a concept. Is that a 'yes?' "

"Fine."

Todd exited the class, and ran out of the schoolhouse, activating his Splicatrix, and desperately trying not to turn it to CatClaw. He turned it to CatClaw anyways, and slammed down the core as soon as it popped up, causing himself to explode in a large flash of blue light.

()

Todd's arms became stringy, and green, before inflating to extremely muscular proportions. Todd's legs folded into his crotch, and 3 lanky vines replaced them. Todd's body became slim, and inhuman, riddled with dozens of muscles. Finally, his face became a single, large eye, with 2 horns sticking out on either side, and an Omnitrix symbol on his lower chest.

()

"OverRoot…?" He said, disappointed. "Well, great. How am I supposed to find Madeline now?"

"Is that your plan?" OverRoot heard a sly voice ask from the roof of the school.

"Madeline?!" OverRoot gasped.

"That's right." She landed in front of him, crossing her arms. "Surprised to see me?"

"Well, yeah." OverRoot said. "I didn't think you'd be following me."

"Don't flatter yourself, kid." Madeline laughed. "I'm not following you for any other reason than to dispose of you."

"Oh, really?" OverRoot asked, before reaching to the side, and tearing a lampost out of the sidewalk, and swinging it at Madeline, who jumped into the air, landing a kick on OverRoot's head.

"Really!" She yelled, unsheathing 4 large, jagged claws from her hand, and scratching OverRoot across his chest.

"Argh…!" Yellow liquid began to drip from OverRoot's chest.

"Oh, don't be a drama queen. That wound's only skin-deep."

"The real wound is the fact that you'd actually hurt me." OverRoot shot back, dazed slightly.

"Aw." Madeline grabbed the lampost, and threw it into OverRoot, knocking him into the grass. "How sweet. That oughta make this easy."

OverRoot shot out several vines, grabbing Madeline by her chest, and throwing her through the school's window. "Don't count on it…"

()

Matheo was sitting in the direct middle of his classroom, with each classmate of his each ignoring him. The teacher, Mrs. Glace, was looking at him, with a slight sadness in her face. She walked over to his desk, and saw him sketching blueprints for some new invention. She tapped her fingers on his desk.

"Hey, Matheo." She said, smiling.

"Let me guess, I'm in trouble for not doing the project, right?"

"There… There's no project, Matheo. This is a free period."

"Oh." Matheo said, nodding. "Cool."

"Look, I know that you've had a tough time with your… Parents, and I've been cutting you some slack for that, but you need to learn to start working with others."

"I could never work with these Neanderthals." Matheo sighed.

"Now, now, that's not nice at all."

"Actually, the Neanderthals were possibly more attractive, and by effect, more social, than the humans of the time. I mean it as a jealous compliment, ma'am."

Mrs. Glace stared at him. "Er… Well, I wouldn't know anything about that. I'm an art teacher, not a history teacher."

"Yeah, I feel that." Matheo chuckled. "Sometimes, my siblings think that I can just whip them up a time machine, just because I'm smart. But in reality, I'm more of a… Rocket science guy, than a Quantum Physics guy."

"Well, no matter what scientific field you specialize in, you need to learn to make some friends, young man."

"Miss, I have friends."

"Maybe." Glace smirked. "But I mean real friends. At this school. I think you'd get a kick outta it."

"Doubt it." Matheo shook his head. "Can you leave now?"

"Okay." Glace sighed, turning to help out another student.

Then, suddenly, Madeline was sent flying through the classroom window, landing in the middle of the room, with an angry look on her face.

"It's Hyu!" One of the kids in the back said, pointing at Madeline. "He's even clumsy and uncoordinated!"

"He's gonna destroy the school!" A girl shouted, sprinting to the door. "We gotta get out of here! I'm too young to die!"

"Guys." Matheo said, trying to sound clueless. "This can't be Hyu, because he don't got none of that… circle… thing. On his chest."

"You mockin' me?" A kid with baggy, torn jeans, a stained checkered-shirt, and a backwards red cap asked, glaring at Matheo.

"N-no!" Matheo threw his hands up. "Why, I'd never even dream of such a thing!"

"H-he's got a point." A mexican kid in an orange shirt said, timidly. "Doesn't he usually have, like, a chest badge, or something?"

"Yeah!" Matheo nodded.

"Kind of like that one on your wrist, Matheo." A girl with overalls said, pointing at him.

"W-well, this is just a customization thing!" Matheo said, sweating. "The Omni-Triplets are just a big deal overseas!"

"No, they're not." Mrs. Glace said, her arms crossed. "I'd know. I surf foreign items on Ebay all day, every day. Even at work."

"Okay, maybe you shouldn't say that…" Matheo laughed, nervously.

Madeline's eyes opened. She hissed, loudly, and jumped onto the roof of the classroom, before the ceiling tiles she was latched on to broke into pieces, and she yelped in pain. As this was happening, a large, green hand grabbed onto the windowsill, and OverRoot climbed through the window, before awkwardly gulping, and waving at everyone in the classroom.

"Hey!" A girl yelled, excitedly jumping up and down. "It's Hyu! The REAL one!"

The class, sans Matheo, gathered around OverRoot, and began excitedly asking questions. Matheo groaned, and shoved his way through the crowd, and stared Hyu dead in the eyes. The chatter slowly stopped around them.

"Hey, Hyu. The Blue one." Matheo growled. "Where's Besu?"

Everyone looked at him.

"Uh…" OverRoot chuckled nervously. "He's, uh… Probably at his job at the library, taking care of his wonderful family, namely his wife… Marla."

"Marla?" Matheo asked in surprise.

"Well, yeah." OverRoot shrugged. "I think Besu would really be into a girl named Marla."

"But all women are physically the same, so the name has about as much weight as…I dunno, eye color."

"Well, I don't KNOW." OverRoot said, scratching his head. "Why are we even talking about Besu's wife, anyway?"

"Yeah, loser." A kid with a buzzcut said, shoving Matheo aside.

"I have a question." Madeline said, angrily getting up. "What does it take to get you to see just what's wrong with you?"

"Wha-?" Was all OverRoot could say, before she tackled him through the window.

Matheo wordlessly sprinted out of the classroom. As he did, the class stared at him running off, and looked at one another.

"Okay, NOW I think he's Besu." A boy with an oversized hoodie muttered.

()

"Madeline!" OverRoot yelled, as he managed to pull himself out of the dirt. "Quit this whole fighting me thing!"

"Not happening!" Madeline said through gritted teeth. "Not even close."

She tore a large, novelty rock out of the ground, and threw it at OverRoot, who gulped before touching the middle of his Omnitrix symbol, exploding in a flash of blue light.

()

OverRoot's Head grew three fins on it's top, and sides. His legs became short, and stubby, and 3 green dots appeared in his chest.

()

"OVERCLONE!" He yelled, instantly multiplying himself into 7, each of which grabbed the rock out of the air, before crushing it into fractions of itself.

"What the-?!" Madeline asked in shock. "He can do that?"

"Okay team." The first OverClone said. "Let's pelt this cat."

The OverClones unraveled their arms into dozens of arms, each picking up rocks, and throwing them at Madeline, who effortlessly dodged all of them. She laughed, before roundhouse kicking an OverClone in the face. The other OverClones shot vines at her, wrapping her up, and lifting her off the ground.

"This is OVER, Madeline!" One of the OverClones shouted at her.

"Hardly!" She replied, cutting open the vines, and flipping out of them.

Two of the OverClones had managed to lift a car off the ground, and they threw it at her. Madeline landed on the flying car's hood, scratching at it's inside with her claws, before kicking off of it sending a now flaming car flying at the OverClones, who each gasped with fear. They each merged back into one, and tried to outrun the explosion, only for Yunai to jump in front of the explosion, grabbing OverClone, and tumbling into the grass with him.

"Yunai!" OverClone said, happily.

"Hey." Yunai coughed. "What's up."

"Hey, Cat Lady!" Besu yelled from behind the twins, dialing an alien. "Pick on somebody your own size!"

"I'm not picking on you guys!" Madeline protested. "Quit making me the bad guy!"

"Whatever!" Besu yelled, slamming down the Optitrix core, and becoming consumed by a bright red light.

()

Besu's Optitrix sank into his arm, which became coated in a flesh-metal hybrid. His hands became two halves of a baseball bat, and the top half of his head forced into a baseball cap. Finally, 6 holes replace Besu's face, and an Omnitrix symbol popped itself out of his right shoulder.

()

"FACEBALL!" He yelled, and shot out 6 baseballs at Madeline, who grabbed a tree out of the ground, and used it to deflect each of them, before throwing it into Besu. "AIIEE!" He yelled.

"That's it, Mad Maddie." Yunai said, cracking her knuckles, and mutating her right and left arms into FlyGuy's and HeatBlast's, respectively. "Get ready for a chemical combustion!"

Yunai shot out a large stream of stinking goo, covering Maddie, before shooting out a stream of fire, causing Maddie to become consumed in an explosion.

"Whoa!" OverClone said, walking over to the scene. "Think you went a little overboard, sis?"

Madeline jumped through the explosion, holding a jagged metal pipe, yelling incessantly.

"No, not really!" Yunai shouted, mutating both her arms into HeatBlast's, and shooting a large explosion at Madeline.

Madeline dived through the explosion, and shouted, throwing the pipe directly into FaceBall's head.

OverClone shouted out, as he multiplied himself into several forms, and each jumped at her, grabbing onto her, and holding her down.

"GET OFFA ME!" Madeline yelled, struggling, before Yunai created a large explosion in the air, as FaceBall shot 6, flaming balls through it, exploding into Madeline, knocking her out.

The OverClones dropped Madeline to the ground, and high-fived each other, before morphing back into one.

"That takes care of that." Hyu said, smiling, as he transformed back to a human.

"Yep." Yunai agreed. "And hopefully, nobody ever brings up the whole 'Hyu being a criminal' thing, ever again."

"Actually-" FaceBall began, before Hyu interrupted him.

"Yep." Hyu said, as the three of them walked into the sunset. "I sure am glad this is all over, chums."

()

Later that night, Todd and Kate were sitting on the living room couch, watching reruns of 'Friends,' when Matheo climbed down the attic ladder, and yelled at them.

"Hey guys!" He yelled. "I found something pretty interesting!"

Todd and Kate both looked at each other, and shrugged. They followed him into the attic, and saw his entire workbench covered with pictures of someone who seemed to resemble the Ben Tennyson they had met, but far more adolescent.

"Is this about… Ben?" Kate asked, pointing at a photo of him.

"Yes… The one from our dimension." Matheo confirmed. "He disappeared off the face of the Earth, about 5-7 years ago."

"What happened to him?" Todd asked, noting the similarities between their Omnitrixes.

"I was able to tap into several of his phone conversations, and apparently, his most recent one depicted a conversation between him and his friends, planning out some sort of 'intergalactic roadtrip.' "

"Ye… What?" Kate asked.

"Alien activity cover-up, Something called 'The Rooters,' and, speaking of things dropping off the face of the Earth, apparently the removal of all information pertaining to a place called 'BellWood.' " He turned to Kate and Todd. "I don't know about you, but I think we've got a mystery on our hands, gang."

"We're… not your gang, dude." Kate rolled her eyes.

"It felt right, okay?" Matheo shook his head. "I'll get on that."

"In the meantime, since we've stumbled upon a state-wide conspiracy, here, we need to train, a lot." Todd nodded "We've got no clue what we're in for."

"Well, then, let's get to it, bros." Kate said, grinning.


	2. R2: Dine-N'-Dash!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matheo is set up on a date with one of Kate's friends! However, while this happening, a mysterious assassin tails them through the city, dead-set on killing Kate!

In the dead of night, a man in completely black clothing, and a black mask is running away from police cars, and dives into an alleyway, exhausted. The police exited the car, and chase him into the alley.

"You just don't give up!" The man shouts, firing the gun behind him.

The cops dodged the fire, and continued after him. The man threw down a trashcan, before grabbing the can's lid, and throwing it behind him, hitting two cops directly in their faces, causing them to scream.

The man jumped onto a fire escape's ladder, and scaled it quickly, with the cops hot on his trail. Once he reached the top of the building, he fired at the corners of the escape multiple times, causing it to crumble, and fall back into the ally with a loud 'CRASH!'

"... Except when the fire escape gives way." The man muttered, grinning at his joke.

He turned around smugly, before a long, goopy tentacle appeared out of nowhere, grabbing the man.

"What the?!" He yelled, before he was grabbed by another tentacle.

The tentacles lifted him into the air, before they slammed into the ground, knocking him unconscious. A girl made of purple goop, with two long antennae emerged from the shadows, and grabbed the money, before opening it, and grinning at it's contents, before swiftly slinking back into the shadows, laughing to herself all the while.

()

"Oh, no way." Kate said, sitting upside down in her recliner, looking at her phone. "Girl, how could you fall for him, again?"

"Jeremy again?" Todd sighed, sitting across from her, playing 'The Outer Worlds,' on his PS4.

"How many times is Debra gonna get her heart broken by that dude?" Matheo agreed, looking up from his Manga.

"Nope, Debra's moved schools." Kate groaned. "It's Margot. She's been trying to find love for so long, but I guess Dylan's got other plans."

"Dylan?" Todd asked, before instantly being mauled to death by a Marauder, and groaning in frustration.

"Isn't that kid, like, a Milk boy?" Matheo laughed. "Doesn't strike me as a lady's man."

"Well, profession isn't everything to a lady, Matheo." Kate rolled her eyes. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you know that? I thought you had a girlfriend?"

Matheo froze. He had told Todd and Kate that he was dating a girl named Danielle, though he hadn't told them that Danielle wasn't actually real. He laughed nervously.

"Oh her?" Matheo waved his hand dismissively. "Aw, we broke up. No big deal… And just so you know, I broke up with HER, so don't go giving me any pity points."

"Yeah, right." Todd said. "Well, there's plenty of other fish in the sea."

Matheo grinned. It was time to really ham this whole performance up. He sighed, overdramatically.

"Yeah." He sniffled. "But none of them are my Danielle."

" 'YOUR' Danielle?" Kate said, cocking an eyebrow. "What, did you buy her, or something?"

"She's not the slave, Kate, I was!" Matheo shouted, defensively.

"I think we've opened a sensitive, melodramatic wound here, sis." Todd said.

"Agreed." Kate nodded. "Though, I must admit, I don't think I've seen him get torn up like this over a human before. Usually, he gets like this when one of his inventions runs away."

"Could you guys find it in your hearts to help me recover?" Matheo asked. "I… I think I might like to have a real- Er, a real chance at getting a girlfriend."

"Oh, my gosh." Todd said, almost dropping his controller, before being shot to death, anyways.

"You're not very good at that game, are you?" Kate asked, before going back to scrolling through her phone.

"Matheo, do you want me to be your wingman?!" Todd asked, excitedly.

"What?!" Matheo practically recoiled in disgust. "Not even a snowball's chance in hell! I'd take KATE before you!"

"Women can't be wingmen, dude." Kate rolled her eyes. "She'd think I'm your date… Ew."

Matheo put his face in his hands. This wasn't going as he planned. "What I meant was, maybe you guys could set me up with somebody, preferably tall, blonde, blue eyes, smart, and very much into revealing clothing."

"You forgot to mention incredibly low standards, and taken." Kate said. "Any girl like that already has a boyfriend."

"I don't recall saying I cared if they were already in a relationship." Matheo said, simply.

"Oh, yeah, that's much better." Kate folded her arms.

"I'm a simple guy, Kate." Matheo said, confidently. "I know what I want. Gimme some credit."

"You know, I think our brother has unrealistic expectations of the opposite sex." Todd whispered to Kate.

"What gave it away?" Kate responded.

"Well?" Matheo asked, tapping his foot. "You guys gonna help me or not?"

"Okay, fine." Kate said. "I think I can find someone who'd be willing to date you, Matheo. School starts in 23 minutes, so I'll make sure to talk to her."

"And I'll set you two soon-to-be lovebirds up on the PERFECT date!" Todd exclaimed, before adding: "How partial would you be to dining-and-dashing?"

()

As promised, during lunch, Kate found a girl, who had curly, blond hair, and large, thick glasses, and wore a very large, dark green sweatshirt, sitting alone at the back of the cafeteria. As soon as she saw Kate, the girl immediately jumped up, and ran over to her, shaking Kate's hand excitedly.

"Kate Harrison?!" She yelled in disbelief. "It's really you! Are you gonna adopt me into your posse?!"

"No, I-?" Kate realized what she'd just heard. "Did you say 'Posse?' "Well, yeah!" The girl replied breathlessly. "My name's Cristi, by the way! Or Cris, if you've already got a Cristi in your gang!"

"I-I know your name." Kate said, confused. "I just... Do you really think I have a posse?"

"Well, it's a group of 4 girls, that's a posse, right? You wouldn't mind if I joined, right?"

"Well, no, I guess not... But that's not why I'm here."

"It's not?" Cristi's eyes became as wide as saucers. "Then, what is it?!"

"Uh, this is gonna sound weird, but... One of my friends tipped me off to the fact that you don't currently... Have a boyfriend...?"

Kate winced. She could immediately tell that Cristi would flip out, since she didn't seem to have many friends, so coming off as if she was being mocked for not being in a relationship probably wouldn't do much to help Kate's already shaky first impression. But much to Kate's surprise, Cristi's face remained free from any anger or jealousy. She just laughed.

"Oh, naw. Not me." Cristi drew invisible circles on the table with her index finger. "No boy would ever like me."

()

"This is beyond stupid." Matheo muttered in math class, scribbling a picture of himself wearing a king's garb, and sentencing every single popular kid in school to incarceration. "I don't need a girlfriend, especially when I'm gonna be king of the world."

Matheo glanced up, and almost jumped out of his skin to see Todd and his two friends sitting around him.

"What the-?!" Matheo shouted, before the teacher shushed him. "What are you idiots doing here?!"

"Wow, rude." Casey said, crossing his arms. "Is he always like this?"

"You get used to it." Todd said dismissively.

"Well, it's not gonna fly on any date longer than 5 seconds." Brendon smirked.

"Date?" Matheo said, before he narrowed his eyes at Todd. "I didn't know you dolts knew about that."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" Brendon said. "He can't just have an outburst in the middle of the date."

"There's no date!" Matheo whined, and put his head on the desk. "Can you go away now? I liked being alone."

"No, you didn't." Todd sighed.

"Whatever."

"So." Casey said, examining his fingernails. "Where do we come in with this whole 'dating' thing?"

"Well, you guys are going steady with your own relationships." Todd said, hopefully. "Maybe you could help him out?"

Casey looked at Matheo, and groaned. "Well, he's definitely a fixer-upper."

"I heard that!" Matheo said through gritted teeth.

()

Kate twiddled her thumbs. "Bad experience with dating, huh?"

"No, nothing like that." Cristi rolled her eyes. "I'm not one to get hung up on the past. I can just tell. I'm always... Just a face in the crowd with boys. A 4/10, if you know what I mean... Maybe a 5."

"Oh, well, you know that stuff's just arbitrary. I'll bet with some better make-up, and a more can-do attitude, you could easily become a 10!" Kate said, trying to be as positive as possible.

"Eh." Cristi smiled at her.

Kate felt odd when she did. She knew that Kristi was smiling at her joke, but knowing that kind of hurt a little. She shook it off.

" 'Eh?!' " Kate asked, surprised. "Every girl has to date a boy in middle school! It's practically a rite of passage!"

"Well I guess I'm in the wrong." Cristi shot back.

"Okay, you may have given up on the dating scene, but what if I said I found the right guy for you?"

"Does he know it's actually me and not... I dunno, Heather Jones?" Cristi said, unimpressed.

"Yes!" Kate said, not technically lying, since Matheo probably didn't know who Heather was."

"Really?" Cristi asked, cocking an eyebrow. "This isn't a prank?"

"Cristi!" Kate said, offended. "Would I lie to you? I'm your friend, aren't I?"

"... Okay, I'll go through with this." Cristi sighed, smiling. "But I swear to god, if this is a prank, Kate, I'll-"

"I know, I know." Kate said, chuckling. "Trust me, this ain't no fluke."

"Er... Did you just say 'Fluke?' " Cristi said, concerned.

"Shut up." Kate replied.

()

Later, Todd, Matheo, Casey and Brendon were at the Harrison's house, while Matheo walked out of the bathroom, wearing a slick, black tuxedo. The three friends all simultaneously 'oooh'd' at him as soon as he entered.

"Oh, shut up." Matheo said. "... Do you really think she'll like it?"

"Yeah... Except for that bracelet." Casey said, pointing at Matheo's Optitrix. "Might wanna ditch that. Red-and-Grey doesn't mix with Black-and-White, bro."

"Dude!" Matheo said, pretending to be offended.

"It's a keepsake from his late Great-Grandma." Todd whispered to Casey. "She passed away 2 months ago."

"Oh." Casey said, feeling stupid.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't make a bad ice-breaker." Brendon said, nodding. "You could make it work."

"Okay, guys, I'm dressed." Matheo said, straightening his black bow-tie. "I guess I'll get going, then."

"Well, not yet!" Todd protested. "What are you gonna do on the date, genius?!"

"Well, Kate probably set me up with somebody who's also a genius, so I think we could talk about our favorite types of neutron deviations?"

"Beyond lame!" Casey shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Maybe your hobbies?" Todd asked, optimistically before Casey put his hand on Todd's shoulder.

"Dude, I think he's beyond saving." Casey said, shaking his head. "I have baseball practice in 25 minutes, so I should probably get going. Later."

"DUDE!" Todd shouted, as Casey left the house.

"Same, man." Brendon agreed. "Some dudes just stay single."

"Guys, come on!" Todd called after them as they left.

The three of them left the attic, leaving Matheo alone. Matheo walked over to his workbench, and pulled out a picture of 2 twenty-year-olds, holding three children, looking happily at the camera. He picked it up, and looked at it wistfully.

"I'll bet Dad would know how to help me out." Matheo embraced the picture in a hug, and felt a tear roll down his cheek.

Suddenly, the sound of Todd re-entering the attic invaded the room, and Matheo hurriedly shoved the picture-frame back into the drawer, and closed it. He'd found the frame in the basement while he was replacing the lightbulbs for the first time in ages, and hadn't told anybody about it for the last 6-and-a-half months. He didn't know why, but he hoped that his siblings never found the picture... Even if it did show their parents.

"Okay, Well, some friends, right?" Todd said, trying to sound cheery. "But we don't- Hey, what's wrong?"

Matheo realized tears were running down his face, and he wiped his eyes. "Nothing. Allergies."

"Oh, I get it." Todd crossed his arms. "Don't worry, man. You'll meet someone. I mean, there's plenty of other fish in the sea, right? Who cares if one date doesn't go smoothly."

Matheo smiled, and hugged Todd. As he let go, Todd was left speechless.

"Uh... You're welcome?" Todd asked, bewildered.

"Thanks, dude." Matheo said. "And you're right. I... Shouldn't let it get to me."

"That's the spirit!" Todd said patting Matheo on his shoulder.

"So... Any tips on this date?"

"Well, I guess just try to get to know her. And don't put her on a pedestal. Whoever this girl is, she's probably human too, so just talk. Try not to get so scared of making a fool of yourself that you... Y'know, make a fool of yourself."

"Heh." Matheo sighed. "Yeah. I'll try not to do that... Thanks, again."

()

Kate and Cristi approached the Harrison's house. Cristi had changed into a long, bright green, slightly revealing dress, with her hair fashioned into a bun. She turned to Kate, and tried to appear confident.

"How do I look?" Cristi asked.

"Like an angel. I'm really glad that eyeliner worked so well, it was my first time trying something so complicated."

"Yeah." Cristi frowned. "Hey, after this, do you think maybe I could go out with you and your friends? I was kind of looking forwards to that."

"Uh... Sure." Kate said, hesitating, before she realized how she was coming off. "I mean, not to be rude or anything, it's just that... You know... We just met, and all."

"Oh. Yeah." Cristi said, blankly.

"But, we could fix that, so-"

"I get it." Cristi said, putting her hand up. "I hope this guy is at least nicer than you are."

Kate was stunned. She didn't say anything, and turned back to the door. Matheo opened the door, and was holding a bouquet of flowers, and looked at Cristi. Matheo froze.

"Uh... H-hi." Matheo stuttered, before coughing. "Hi. Matheo... Nice to... Nice to meet you." He stuck his hand out to Cristi, who politely returned the favor.

"Cristi." She replied.

"What a name." Matheo said, under his breath.

"Uh, so where are we going?" Cristi asked, as Hyu walked out of the house from behind them, and triumphantly posed in front of them.

"Hello, lovebirds." Hyu said, flexing. "And Matheo! My good friend! Oh, man, Cristi. The stories the two of us can tell!"

"Can this get any cheesier?" Kate asked, rolling her eyes, as Cristi punched her in the shoulder.

"You're... Hyu..." Cristi said, amazed. "Holy crap."

"Correction." Hyu said, before activating his Splicatrix, and transforming into Upgrade. "I'm your ride."

Upgrade morphed himself around the broken lawnmower in the yard, and transformed it into a limousine, opening the back-seat door for the kids. Kate, Matheo, and Cristi all entered the car, and Upgrade took off down the road.

Inside the sofa, were three black-and-blue sofas, a trashcan (Which he had for some reason.), and a cabinet, filled with empty cans.

"This is the best day, ever." Cristi said, looking out the window.

"Yeah." Matheo said, throwing the bouquet into the trashcan, before it was immediately spat back up into his lap.

"Hey." Cristi said, looking back to Matheo. "Did you really get ahold of Hyu, just for our date?"

"Yeah." Matheo sighed.

"Thanks." Cristi said, smiling at him.

Matheo looked at her in confusion. "You mean it?"

"Absolutely. He seems like he'd be pretty busy, and you really know how to make a first impression..." Cristi stopped herself, and took note of Matheo's Optitrix. "Huh... You're a Besu guy, huh?"

"... Yeah." Matheo nodded. "Who's your favorite? Probably Yunai, right?"

"No, Besu's my favorite too. Red's my favorite color."

Matheo smirked. "I guess that's something we have in common... That's how dates work right?"

"I dunno." Cristi laughed. "I wish someone gave me a manual for this whole dating thing."

"Right?!" Matheo nodded. "People make it sound so complicated!"

"See?" Kate laughed, nervously. "This is going great!"

Cristi gave her a dirty look. "Why are you here, again?" Was all she said, before she turned back to Matheo.

"Hey!" Matheo said, stunned. "That's my sister you're dissing!"

"I know." Cristi said, crossing her arms. "But she's the one who didn't want to be friends with me."

"Is that true?" Matheo asked, looking at Kate, confused. "Why?"

"It's not like that!" Kate shouted, shaking her head.

"Well, still." Matheo sighed, turning back to Cristi. "Kate may have said something mean in the past, but you need to rise above, it and be the bigger person in all this."

"Maybe." Cristi admitted.

"Cristi, I am sorry." Kate said, sincerely.

"Okay, Kate." Cristi said, and smiled at her.

Kate smiled back at her, and began to feel those strange feelings again. She couldn't explain it. For some reason, every time Cristi was even the slightest bit nice to Kate, Kate became more and more scared of her.

"Agh!" Upgrade shouted out in pain, as there was large 'thunk' on top of the car.

A human teenage girl wearing armored pads on her upper and lower chest, arms, legs and face had landed on top of Upgrade, and she was wielding a large, blue, electric axe. Upgrade's head appeared from the top of the car, before the girl swung at him, nearly taking his head off as he ducked back down.

"Who are you, lady?!" Upgrade shouted, trying not to cause a wreck.

"Name's not important." She said, and slammed the axe directly into the roof of the car, causing everyone inside to yelp in surprise.

"Who-?!" Cristi asked, confused, before Kate jumped in front of her and Matheo, protecting them.

"You've got the wrong car, lady!" Kate yelled, glaring at her.

"On the contrary." The lady said, transforming her arm into a long purple tentacle, and throwing Kate into the side of a nearby building. "I have the exact car I was looking for!"

"Kate!" Matheo yelled, jumping up, and yelling at Upgrade: "Stop the car!"

"If you say so. Brace yourself!" Upgrade replied.

Matheo grabbed Cristi, as Upgrade de-morphed, transforming the lawnmower back to normal. The two kids were sent barreling onto the sidewalk, scraped and bruised.

"Matheo?" Cristi asked, worried. "Now would be a real good time to call in the other Katachi Members."

Matheo glanced momentarily at his Optitrix, the back to Cristi, before he ran over to her, and helped her up. "Uh... Yeah. It would, if I could. Come on, let's go!"

As the two ran down the alleyway next to them, Upgrade fired a laser at the armored girl, missing her by a few inches. Kate fell to the ground, before picking herself up, only to be kicked in the head by the armored girl falling from the sky, sending her flying back several feet.

"You don't need to keep this act up, Yunai." The armored girl said, walking towards her.

"Okay, cool." Kate said, mutating her hand into that of HandyMan's. "No need to let you keep kicking me around, then."

She charged at the Armored Girl, who grabbed Kate with her slime tentacles, and smacked her into a nearby oak tree, causing her to scream in pain.

"Ouch..." Kate groaned. "Who are you?"

"Nobody you know closely." The Armored Girl said, cracking her knuckles, and taking out her axe. "Just somebody who really has a bone to pick with you, Yunai."

()

Matheo and Cristi both ran away for a while, and panted, out of breath.

"Man... The Katachi League... Sure gets attacked a lot... Huh?" Cristi said, gasping for air.

"Yeah." Matheo nodded. "Sorry about that."

Cristi scratched her head. "So... Now what?"

"On our date?" Matheo shifted uncomfortably. "Hopefully there's a fancy restaurant around here?"

"I mean, about your sister!"

"Kate?! She's fine, no need to worry."

Cristi crossed her arms. "How do you know?"

"Hyu's there! Isn't that enough?" Matheo protested.

"I don't know. We should at least go back to if she's alright. I mean, aren't you even the slightest bit curious as to why she's being targeted when she's apparently just a... Normal... Kid."

Cristi looked at Matheo with sudden suspicion.

"Matheo." She asked. "Where did you actually get that bracelet?"

"A gift shop!" Matheo replied, quickly. "Where else?"

"And why couldn't you get ahold of the other 2 members of the Katachi-League, again?"

"... They're... Very busy at this time of night?"

"Matheo, come on. Don't lie to me." Cristi glared at him. "Kate's my friend. She could be in trouble, and you're just lying to me, for no reason!"

"Okay, fine!" Matheo said, annoyed. "Yeah, I'm Besu, Todd's Hyu, and Kate's Yunai! There!"

"Thank you." Cristi smiled.

"Yeah, whatever. Look, you'd better not tell any of this to your gal pals, alright?"

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I don't really have friends. At least not until Kate came along."

"Wait, what?" Matheo sounded confused. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. Nobody ever really wanted to hang out with me... And deep down, I'm worried Kate'll forget about me after this date. She just seems to give off weird vibes every time I try to be her friend, like she doesn't mean it, or feels guilty, or something."

"Cristi, listen to me." Matheo reassured her. "Kate won't forget about you, okay? I promise."

"Yeah, I know. Just hard to shake a feeling sometimes."

They smiled at each other, before Cristi pointed at Matheo's Optitrix.

"So, it's time you put that thing to use, huh?"

"You bet." Matheo smiled, and activated the Optitrix, and slamming down the core, soon becoming engulfed in a red flash.

()

Matheo's left arm began covered in hard, green diamond chunks, as well as the rest of his body. As it covered his face, the diamonds surrounded his eyes, which flipped over 180 degrees, to reveal yellow crystals. Two large, diamond spikes grew out of his backs. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his left shoulder, and he flexed.

()

"DIAMONDGUY!" He shouted, as Cristi climbed onto his back, before he ran out of the alleyway.

()

The Armored Girl stood above Yunai, and raised the electronic axe in the air, before a large explosion of blue light blinded her momentarily. Yunai took the opportunity, and kicked the Girl's ankles, and jumped back to her feet. Hyu, now HeatBlast stood next to her, and cracked his fiery knuckles.

"Took you long enough." Yunai said under her breath, transforming her arms into Refractor's.

"Upgrade really sucks for long distance running in forests, apparently." HeatBlast said back. "Who knew?"

"What's your endgame here, mystery meat?!" Yunai yelled at the armored girl.

"Not much, just taking you guys out for good!"

"Sometimes it's just that simple." Heatblast shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I don't buy it." Yunai replied. "Call it a hunch."

"Oh, don't worry." The Armored Girl yelled at her. "You won't live long enough to find out!"

HeatBlast tore out a section of the concrete, terraforming it into a meteor, and riding it into the air as a surfboard, before he backflipped off of it, sending it crashing into the girl, causing a large explosion. Kate covered her face, so that the sparks and dirt didn't get in her face. As the Armored Girl tried to get up, Diamonds appeared from the smoke, and pinned her to the ground, as DiamondGuy and Cristi walked over into the scene.

"Ah, Hyu!" Yunai said, coughing. "These must be those lovebirds you were chauffering. Very odd party, I must say."

"Save it, guys." Cristi said, waving her hands. "Besu... Er, Matheo, over here, told me everything."

"Oh, did he?" HeatBlast asked, through gritted teeth. "Good to know."

"Don't blow a gasket." DiamondGuy replied dismissively. "She's trustworthy."

"You're only saying that 'cause you've got a crush on her!" Yunai yelled.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt." Cristi asked, pointing to The Armored Girl, who's mask had fallen off. "But who is SHE?"

Yunai walked over to the girl, and lifted her head up, only to almost recoil in shock. "Lebana" Yuai asked. "Is that you?"

"Who's Lebana?" DiamondGuy asked, as HeatBlast elbowed him in the shoulder.

"But why?" Yunai prodded. "Why do any of this crap?"

"Why do you think, you idiot?" Lebana yelled in anger. "It's about the Unitrix!"

"How do you know what the Unitrix is?" HeatBlast asked, concerned.

"None of your business!" Lebana spat.

"I don't think so." DiamondGuy said, walking towards her. "You'll tell us what you know, or else!"

Yunai stopped him, and turned back to Lebana. "Who told you?" She asked.

"Some guy saying he was working for a group called... Infinite knights, or something."

"Look who's talkative all of a sudden." Yunai said, sassily. "Why do you care about the Unitrix so much?"

"Because I WANT it!" Lebana whined. "Yunai's an inspiration to little girls everywhere! That should have been me, not my undeserving friend!"

"Well... I understand if you're jealous, but trying to-"

"JEALOUS?!" Lebana erupted. "You don't deserve powers, I do! You've got it all Kate, friends, good grades, an inventor little brother, A cool house, a lovable personality! What do I have?! Nothing! Nothing at all! My life's the most boring thing EVER!"

"We can compare 2 different lives all day, Lebana." Yunai sighed.

"You don't get it, Kate! You could have any guy in the school at your feet if you wanted! Not me! Never me! I could never even dream of having a boyfriend! But if I had the Unitrix, nobody would EVER say no to me again! Nobody would EVER call me ugly again!"

"Because they'd be afraid of you!" HeatBlast said, sternly. "Listen to yourself!"

"Stay out of this!" Lebana yelled. "Kate, please. We're friends, right? Do me a favor, PLEASE."

"Not happening Lebana." Yunai sighed. "Sorry."

The triplets and Cristi turned around, and left Lebana, as she began screaming nonsense.

()

The triplets had changed back into their civilian gear, and were standing outside an extremely fancy restaurant, 'Rose's Vineyard."

"Hope you guys enjoy it." Todd said, bashfully. "Even with what just happened."

"Our utmost apologies." Kate agreed.

"Guys, you're embarrassing me..." Matheo groaned.

"No, they're not." Cristi laughed. "Come on, we're gonna be let in next."

"Good luck!" Kate called after them, before turning to Todd. "You know, they seem happy together."

"Yeah. You really found a 1-in-a-million there. That being, a female who can actually tolerate Matheo." Todd laughed.

"Definitely a rare breed." Kate sighed.

"But you don't seem very happy." Todd noted. "Why is that?"

"Well, not only did one of my best friends turn out to be an evil psycho with a death wish against me, but I can't help but feel super weird around Cristi." Kate groaned. "Maybe she's not a good fit for Matheo? Is that it? Is it like, woman's intuition, or something?"

Todd put his hand on her shoulder, and smirked. "You did a good job, sis. Don't beat yourself up over a falling out that ain't even happened yet."

Kate nodded. "You're right. Thanks for that... Speech, I guess."

"Pretty short-ass speech." Todd said, shrugging.

()

Meanwhile, deep in space, an elongated black-and-orange spaceship was flying along the cosmos, searching for something. Eventually, it picked up a large, grey object, and extruded a long gray claw, and pulled it back into the craft. Inside the cargo bay, 3 alien cronies with orange-and-black gear surrounded the object, and pulled it into an organic recharge chamber.

"Finally, after all these years." A slim, snow-white alien in a black robe, and a black-and-white thorn on his head said, emerging from the shadows. "Vilgax, the conqueror of worlds, has been found. You, there, activate the juices!"

The crony nodded, and filled the tube with thick, orange, transparent liquid, with several black electric spheres inside it as well.

"He won't be able to exit for a while, but hopefully he'll be able to talk within... Let's say about a week?"

"Psyphon!" Vilgax suddenly yelled, angrily. "What is the meaning of this?! Where is Ben Tennyson?!"

"About that, your leige." Psyphon said, thoroughly startled. "He and his pitiful array of friends took off into the stars roughly... About... 6 years ago?"

"6... YEARS?!" Vilgax shouted. "Well, where is he now?!"

"Er... That was about it. He's disappeared, along with the entirety of BellWood. That's kind of a funny story, actually-"

"As usual, Psyphon, you have failed to divulge the correct information." Vilgax interrupted.

"I... I have?" Psyphon gulped.

"Yes. Because I sense multiple Omnitrix signals emanating from Earth. So, tell me, how is Tennyson lost to space, when he is CLEARLY still on Earth?!"

"Ah... Yes. Right, yes." Psyphon cleared his throat. "We seek out a proper target to send out to test Ben's new strength."

"That's a good plan." Vilgax agreed. "Send this target a transmission, now."

()

Lebana was still sitting within the diamond prison, sighing. She punched the side of the cage, before yelling in pain. Suddenly, a large, orange drone flew down from the sky, and stuck two long, thick chords into her forehead, before she could react. As it did, the ground below her began to disappear. She screamed out, before she found herself inside of a void.

"What the-?!" Lebana yelled in fear, before the image of Vilgax appeared before her. "Who in the-? Cthulhu's real?!"

"There is no time for your pitiful jokes, Earthling." Vilgax replied. "I need you to find Ben Tennyson, eliminate him, and bring me his Omnitrix."

"Ben Tennyson?" Lebana asked, confused. "Man, you really are out of the loop, aren't you?"

"Just what's that supposed to mean?" Vilgax asked, unamused.

"Ben and his friends left on an 'intergalactic road-trip' YEARS ago. There are others on this planet using Omnitrixes, though. If you'd like, I could kill them instead."

"Very well." Vilgax said. "You have 24 of your hours. Bring me AN Omnitrix by then."

"That's easier said than done." Lebana said, staring him down. "If you want this to be done correctly, you'll need to give me some tools."

"I'm aware. The drone that's allowing us to communicate is equipped with a body-armor function. I do hope it will be enough for your needs."

The vision ended, and Lebana completely found herself covered from head-to-toe in black-and-silver body-armor, complete with a metallic helmet, as well. She effortlessly tore a hole in the ceiling of the Diamond Cage, and leaped out of it, landing at the other end of the park.

"Super strength, nice." Lebana said, before looking at the corner of her vision, noting a small map, leading her towards the Triplets. "Even Nicer."

()

"So... I'm thinking maybe just a gourmet burger." Matheo nodded.

"Excuse me?" Cristi asked. "Are you tryna tell me you came out to this fancy-pants place, all to order a burger?"

"A gourmet burger." Matheo corrected her. "Totally different."

Cristi rolled her eyes, before leaning in close to Matheo. "So, tell me, what's being a world-famous superhero like, exactly?"

"Oh, it's the WORST." Matheo groaned. "My siblings think they know everything, but they're obviously just the cannon-fodder. I'm so obviously the leader, it's not even funny. But who ALWAYS gets called the leader? Todd! It's unbelievable!"

Cristi nodded, before suddenly thinking of something. "Oh, and what's up with your names, anyway? Like, they're all just 'blank'-guy."

"Well, that just makes 'em easy to remember." Matheo said, turning the page of his menu.

Cristi suddenly noticed a reflection of someone soaring through the air from her cup. She looked out the window to see Mecha-Lebana falling from the sky, and landing just outside the restaurant. She quickly turned back to Matheo, visibly worried.

"Hate to interrupt." She said, pointing out the window. "But we've got a code Lebana."

()

Meanwhile, Todd and Kate were sitting just outside the restaurant, texting on their phones, when suddenly, they heard someone shouting above them, and looked up, to see Mecha-Lebana, barreling down towards them at full speed.

"OH, KA-A-ATIE!" Mecha-Lebana yelled, and landed in a large crater, causing the twins to fly far into the air.

"Holy crap!" Todd yelled, quckly activating his Splicatrix, and exploding into a blue light.

()

The Splicatrix transformed itself into a black-and-white drawing on Todd's arm, which consumed the rest of his body with paper. Once he was fully consumed, his body became flattened, and his head became rectangular. A mouth, and scribbly eyes were drawn on his face, as well as a semblance of an outfit on his body, and finally, an Omnitrix symbol on his chest. Todd transformed his hands into hammers, and grinned.

()

"PAPERCUT!" He yelled, before extending his arms out, grabbing onto a loose pipe on the roof of the restaurant, and pulling himself instantly to it, noiselessly landing.

Before Kate could land, Mecha-Lebana grabbed her out of the air, and threw her directly into the diner, causing her to land in the middle of the establishment. The patrons began yelling, and running all around the place.

"Holy mother of god!" Matheo yelled, standing up.

Mecha-Lebana was about to jump in after Kate, but PaperCut grabbed onto her, reinforcing his arms, and threw her into a wall next to the restaurant. Mecha-Lebana was sent flying through the window, as PaperCut jumped into the diner, and grabbed Kate's body, slapping her face, before she woke up.

"Get off me!" Kate said, as loudly as she could, barely managing to stand up. "... Ouch. That roof is a lot denser than it looks."

"Yeah, well, you may want to go Yunai before the smoke settles." PaperCut suggested.

"Good idea." Kate nodded, transforming into Yunai.

"What's going on guys?!" Matheo asked, running over with Cristi.

"I'm going on!" Leban screamed, punching a large hole in the wall, and lumbering through it.

"That sucked." Cristi muttered under her breath.

"Ah, Cristi!" Lebana shouted. "Quick, use your SludgePuppy powers! Now's your chance to destroy Kate, once and for all! Now!"

"Wait, what?!" Matheo asked, confused. "What's a 'SludgePuppy?' "

"Cristi?" Kate asked, her eyes widening. "What's she talking about?"

"Well if she's gonna spoil the surprise..." Cristi said, nonchalantly transforming her hand into a long, purple tentacle, grabbing Yunai's neck, and slamming her into the wall of the diner.

"That's not a good idea..." Yunai mumbled, and mutated her arms into Amphibian's, and electrocuting the tentacle, causing Cristi to drop her.

PaperCut lunged at Cristi, before he was stopped by Lebana, who back-handed slapped him into a booth, which collapsed around him.

"We're here for Kate." Leban growled.

"Sorry, Matheo. We're just gonna remove the one thing that's keeping your sister alive. I hope we can keep seeing each other after this."

"Wait... Taking the Unitrix out is gonna kill Kate?" Lebana asked, suddenly worried.

"Well, yeah, obviously. Kate IS the Unitrix, dummy." Cristi laughed. "Of course, if you want to back out now..."

"I... I didn't-" Lebana started, before she was electrocuted.

"Don't forget our deal." She heard Vilgax saying.

As Lebana was trying to shake it off, PaperCut managed to pull himself out of the demolished table, and coughed.

"Matheo..." PaperCut said, weakly. "Matheo, do something!"

"I can't!" Matheo whispered back. "That's my girlfriend over there!"

"Well, that's also your SISTER over there, dude!" PaperCut brushed himself off, sighing.

"... I know." Matheo admitted, activating his Optitrix, and transforming into:

"SNAILGUY!"

"What the-?" Lebana asked, turning around, to see SnailGuy whip her to the ground with his tail, before she punched him into the air, and roundhouse kicked him into the cash register, causing it to explode.

Kate's armor had disappeared, but she had managed to pick herself up, only to see Cristi standing over her, arms crossed.

"So, it was you the whole time, huh?" Kate said, coughing. "Pretending like it was Lebana this whole time... Why?"

"It was a lot more convenient for you to assume there were 2 enemies when there was only 1." Cristi said. "But... It's getting harder to go along with it, now... Because I think that you really ARE my friend."

"Yes!" Kate said, exasperated. "What, you didn't believe me, or something?!"

"I don't much know."Cristi admitted. "But I can't just sit here, and watch the one thing that keeps you going get removed, and have you disappear forever. And Lebana didn't know that would happen."

"Classic Lebana." Kate said. "Speaking of which..."

Kate mutated her arms into those of HandyMan's, and grabbed Lebana, before throwing her at SnailGuy, who grabbed her, and covered her in corrosive acid, causing her armor to rust off, and break. Lebana fell to the ground, unconscious.

Todd and Matheo both returned to normal, and walked over to the girls.

"Great job, team." Todd said, giving a thumbs-up.

Matheo looked at Cristi, and crossed his arms. "We could have used your help, you know."

"Me?" Cristi laughed. "Please. I'm no hero. Heck, you probably never wanna see me again."

"That's not true!" Matheo insisted. "Look, I know you were trying to kill us, but I think we could honestly get along pretty well together, on a real date, you know?"

"Thanks, but no thanks." Cristi said. "Looks like the date's over, here. But for what it's worth, I had fun."

Matheo was stunned, as Cristi turned to Kate.

"Okay, Kate. A promise is a promise."

"Pretty much." Kate agreed.

()

Kate, Cristi, and Margot all sat together on a couch at Margot's house, in their pajamas, and reading magazines.

"This is always what I hoped a sleepover would feel like." Cristi said, happily, and eating a bowl of cereal. "It's so cozy."

"You can say that again, girlfriend." Margot nodded. "You know, Kate, for the quiet girl, she's pretty talkative."

"See, Cristi? It's not a posse. Having friends is just supposed to be comforting, not intimidating."

"I wish I'd known that earlier." Cristi admitted.

"Well, you do now." Kate smiled. "Now, who's up for a pillow fight?"


	3. R3: Crowd Control!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matheo's aliens have escaped from the Optitrix, and are wreaking havoc! It's up to the Omni-Triplets to save the day, although Matheo would hope to keep Todd out of this one.

"Alright." Matheo said, sauntering into the living room, holding a large folder full of yellow, laminated papers, and a smug grin plastered on his face. "I've been thinking a while, and-"

"Cool." Todd sighed. "Don't care.'

Todd was sitting upside down on a bean-bag, reading a comic book, and eating a bag of barbecue potato chips. He paid no mind to Matheo's work. Obviously this angered Matheo, but he said nothing. You see, Matheo had been taking rage-controlling classes, and so lately had been attempting to keep himself from blowing up at Todd so often.

"Well, you should." Matheo said. "I've found evidence to suggest the existence of an underground community, which supposedly existed UNDER BellWood in it's prime, so-"

"BellWood, SchmellWood." Todd yawned, before sitting upright, and looking at Matheo. "How, exactly, does this affect the team?"

"Er-" Matheo started, before looking down. "... I dunno, I was hoping we could go there, and-"

"GO there?" Todd asked, dumbfounded. "How?! Take the bus over to the next country?!"

"It's actually in the US, remember?"

"Right, that helps. We'll just take the bus to wherever in some other state." Todd sighed. "Mo, I know that you're trying to keep spirits up, but we're just a few kids, you, Kate, and I."

"I know." Matheo grumbled.

"Heck, just being able to pay the bills around here is a total nightmare." Todd said, standing up and stretching. "We can't just go on some roadtrip, just to make sure that some ghost town is ACTUALLY a ghost town."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Matheo put his hands up. "I get the point, leader."

Todd looked at him. "... What's that supposed to mean, exactly?"

"Exactly what you think it means." Matheo mumbled under his breath, walking out of the room.

He slammed the door behind him, walking into the house's attic, before he kicked the dust on the floor. "Stupid Todd." He muttered to himself. "He thinks he knows everything... Doesn't he know that's MY job?!"

Matheo walked around in a circle, before he snapped his fingers.

"I've got it!" He shouted, triumphantly. "I'll show those two. I'll take the sewers, and find that underground community, myself!"

Matheo looked over to his workbench, and grinned. "And what better way to prove those idiots wrong, then by doing the one thing they said I couldn't?"

Matheo examined his smoking Optitrix-hacking machine, and smirked, before he picked up a socket wrench, and used it to pry open a large metal sheet, causing every single burnt, torn wire to come tumbling out of the machine, and onto the ground in front of him. He sighed, and grabbed the pile of wires, before throwing them in the recycling bin.

"Or not." He said, rubbing his forehead with his greasy hands. "Those were pretty much all my wires. I'm gonna need more."

"Hey, dude." Kate said, interrupting him, climbing through the trapdoor before she plopped down on the beanbag in the corner, with a detective novel. "Sounded like you were partying up here."

"I'm not partying, nitwit!" Matheo groaned. "I'm trying to figure out how to improve my Optitrix! I don't have time for this nonsense!"

"You mean, 'upgrade' the Optitrix? Like regular people say?" Kate said, dismissively. "Good luck. I look forward to seeing how you muck this one up."

"Wait a sec." Matheo said, turning to Kate, his brain having just hatched an idea. " 'Upgrade' theOptitrix! That's it!"

"What now?" Kate asked, lowering her book, and raising an eyebrow.

"Stand back, Kate!" Matheo popped up his Optitrix gleefully, and turned to TechGuy. "I'm gonna do something crazy!"

"What else is new...?"

Matheo slammed the Optitrix core down, and deformed into a red glow.

()

Matheo's arm was covered in black goo, as was the rest of his body, giving it a blobby appearance. Then, red circuitry filled most of his body, with the rest of it becoming a solid red, between his legs, and the lower part of his chest. An Omnitrix appeared on his chest, and he puffed his chest out.

()

"TECHGUY!" He yelled, before turning to Kate. "Okay, Kate, It's time for me to do the previously assumed impossible!"

"You're really hyping... Whatever you're doing, up, you know that?"

"Let's see you still sass me, after I unlock the Optitrix's true form!"

TechGuy deformed his neck, and shot it directly into the Omnitrix symbol, until it was all that was left ofMatheo, it fell to the ground, covered in steam.

"Matheo...?" Kate asked, standing up. "Oh boy, Todd's really gonna let me have it this time..."

Suddenly, the Omnitrix symbol rose into the air, and became consumed in red light, as well as beginning to superheat. The humidity it was giving off was causing the walls to melt around the basement.

"Oh no." Kate said, before mutating her entire body into a female version of HeatBlast, before grabbing the core, and sprinting out of the house.

She ran through the kitchen, and out the back door, before she mutated DragonFly's wings out of her back, and flying high into the air. As soon as she began to take flight, the Omnitrix symbol fluctuated, flying out of her hands, before transforming into GoldenGuy.

"Oh, Matheo." Kate said, relieved. "You're not dead. That's great."

GoldenGuy didn't respond, instead activating his hoverboard, and flying off. Kate sputtered in confusion, before flying after him.

"Hey, spacey!" Kate yelled when she caught up with him. "Get a grip! Where are you even going?!"

GoldenGuy blankly continued flying, until he began to groan, and was suddenly split into two halves, one half staying as GoldenGuy, but the other becoming DiamondGuy, who quickly began falling, and picking up speed.

"What the-?!" Kate asked, before realizing DiamondGuy was falling. "Wait, OH NO!"

She flew down after him, but DiamondGuy hit the middle of a large, grassy field, leaving a gigantic crater.

"Matheo!" Kate yelled, coughing, and waving the smoke away. "Are you alright?! Say something!"

Next, both SnailGuy, and FaceBall walked out of the smoking crater, past Kate, who was utterly bewildered at this point. She also saw DiamondGuy leaving the crater as well, and, directly after that, something quickly sprinted past her. She shrugged it off, and, with her HeatBlast hands, absorbed the smoke from the crater, before demutating her body, and sliding into the crater.

"Matheo!" She called, jumping over a large rock, and looking around. "Please tell me there's a good explanation for this!"

"Kate?" She heard him calling from the pit.

Kate ran over to Matheo, who was climbing out of the middle of the pit, and helped him out.

"You want to explain what's going on here?" Kate asked, crossing her arms.

"Nope." Matheo shook his head. "Can we go now? I think those aliens are getting away."

"Oh, geez, I knew it." Kate said, facepalming. "You going Upgrade-"

"TECHGUY." Matheo corrected her.

"Whoever! You going TechGuy, and upgrading the Optitrix, I KNEW it was bad mojo!""

"No, you didn't! If you did, you would have said something! That's what makes you useless, and stupid!"

"Wow, okay, rude." Kate rolled her eyes. "Do you have even a semblance of a plan?"

"Well, not yet. Don't worry, they're just DNA samples. They can't kill anybody... At least, not on purpose... At least, I don't THINK they can... They don't come with brains, right?"

"I don't know."

"Okay, well, we'll say maybe, for now." Matheo concluded. "In the meantime, check THIS out!"

He held up the Optitrix, which looked extremely different. Now, the red, glowing tubes were nonexistent, and was primarily grey, with what looked like an enlarged, red hourglass symbol at its top, underneath the dial. The normally round buttons had also been converted to triangles, and the top of the rim was completely black, save 4 red triangles.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Matheo said, nodding. "I know that Upgrading may have unleashed all of the aliens, but maybe there's some kind of POSITIVE side effect?"

"Only time will tell?" Kate asked, shrugging her shoulders.

"SCREW THAT!" Matheo said, activating the Splicatrix, and turning through it. "If we're gonna get those aliens back, we're gonna need fire power, and LOTS of it!"

Matheo scrolled through his Alien roster, and fist-pumped. There were three new aliens in his roster, on resembling a large creature, with several spikes placed around the top of his body. There was also a smaller, muscular alien, with 3 protrusions on his head. And finally, there was a large, humanoid dinosaur, with a spiked tail, and spikes all along his back.

"Todd's gonna be totally jealous!" Matheo said, happily. "Even though I think I lost TechGuy... I can't find him ANYWHERE in here... Oh, well. I don't need him. I can build things good enough on my own."

"That's the spirit!" Kate said. "And you know the old saying, 'You're aliens are my aliens!' "

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. You mooch off my genius."

"And how do you suggest I unlock aliens myself?" Kate asked, tapping her foot.

"The same way you sneeze on it." Matheo replied, before turning back to his Optitrix. "This is AWESOME! Now I know how Todd feels!"

"Okay, great." Kate said, impatiently. "When are we gonna go get your other aliens back?"

"Working on it!" Matheo said, pointing finger guns at Kate, before climbing out of the crater.

"Do you think you could, like, track them with the Optitrix's GPS, or something?" Kate asked, climbing out of the pit.

"It can do that?" Matheo asked. "Well, isn't that convenient? Let's try that, yeah!"

Matheo scrolled over to the GPS app, and it began sweeping the area around him, showing 6 yellow, glowing dots around him.

"Six?" Kate asked, confused. "I only saw, like, 4 of those dudes jaywalking."

"J... Jaywalking." Matheo repeated. "... Do I even WANT to know?"

"We're not talking about this." Kate said, strictly. "Let's go find those alien dudes, man."

"Okay, DON'T want to know." Matheo said, nodding. "That confirms my hypothesis."

"Alright, well, I'll go get Todd, and we'll-"

"WAIT, NO!" Matheo said, grabbing her arm. "We can't tell Todd, no way, nuh-uh, not happening!"

"Geez, alright, okay!" Kate said, shaking Matheo off of her.

"Awesome!" Matheo said. "This is a you-and-me thing, right, sister?! Doesn't it feel wonderful to finally be useful to me?!"

"Keep talking to me like that, and I'm not helping you." Kate sighed. "Now where do we go first?"

"SnailGuy." Matheo said, reading the DNA signature. "He's over at the Denver monument in the park. We've gotta move."

()

"Hyu is the best!" A kid wearing a backward baseball cap, as well as a striped shirt, said. "Look, he's demolishing that shopping cart!"

He pointed at Matheo's escaped DiamondGuy sample, who was currently tearing a poor ice-cream salesman's cart, while he cowered behind some bushes. Suddenly, the real Hyu ran into the scene, and magnetically grabbed the pieces of the cart, before he broke it over the sample's head.

"Wow." Hyu said, dazed. "These guys are tougher than I thought they were. I kind of thought he'd at least FEEL that..."

The DiamondGuy sample turned around, to reveal a black-and-yellow pattern on his uniform.

"Woah... Besu? Is that you?! But where's your symbol?"

"BESU'S GONE ROGUE?!" A kid behind the crowd, wearing a toy Besu watch screamed in horror, before he fainted to the ground.

"Mo's never been the type to take aliens on a test drive..." Hyu mused under his breath. "Especially ones he already knows how to use... What's going on here?"

The sample lumbered at Hyu, before placing his hand to the ground, and causing a giant crystal spike to come lunging out of the ground, directly towards him. In response, Hyu jumped out of the way, activating his Splicatrix, and selecting the first alien he saw, before exploding into blue light.

()

Todd's uniform disappeared, before blue, fur-covered veins leaped out of the Splicatrix's core, and consumed his body, racing towards his eyes, which each split into two. As his legs shot up into his abdomen, a black-and-blue tail shot out of his hips. His arms split into 8, and covered the sides of his body. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest, and he beat his chest.

()

The light faded, and SpiderMonkey jumped out of the resulting smoke, landing on top of the crystal protrusion, and running directly at the DiamondGuy sample, who had turned around to walk shot 2 webs at his back, before pulling him, and by effect throwing him directly at the crowd of people.

"Oh, no, WAIT! STOP!" SpiderMonkey yelled, jumping into the middle of the crowd.

SpiderMonkey barely managed to grab DiamondGuy's sample out of the sky, before throwing him into the fountain, causing it to break into several small rocks, and water to spray everywhere. The crowd cheered for him, but Hyu's work wasn't over yet. DiamondGuy's sample climbed out of the fountain, before lifting a large chunk of the fountain out of the hole, and threw it directly at SpiderMonkey, who's eyes widened.

()

Meanwhile, in the center of Downtown Denver, the SnailGuy sample was tearing up the natural park around him, since he couldn't control the natural acid he was constantly generating. As such, there were rivers of acid running throughout the park, causing their fumes to begin lifting into the air. Kate, carryingMatheo, flew into the scene, and dropped Matheo onto the ground, before landing and demutating her body.

"Holy crap." Matheo said, looking upon the fresh hell that the park had become. "SnailGuy did this?! GEEZ, he's more powerful than I thought."

"I can see the sample. It looks like he's doing it by accident." Kate said. "What's the plan?"

"Easy. I try out one of these new guys, well you go take care of the acid, and trapped civilians."

"You got it." Kate nodded, before mutating her arms into those of WaterGuy's, and DragonFly's wings on her back.

Matheo turned to the park, and dialed in one of his new aliens, and slapped the core down, exploding into red.

()

Large, rock-like scales tore themselves out of Matheo's skin, and the rest of his body, while a large, thick tail tore itself out of his back. Small, black rocks formed at the end of his tail, as well as along his back, and onto his head, which became a hybrid of a human and a dinosaur. An Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest, and he roared.

()

"REXGUY!" He yelled, before leaping into the air.

As RexGuy was soaring through the air, he noticed SnailGuy burning a tunnel-esque trail through the middle of the park. RexGuy grinned, before picking his tail up, then dropping it, speeding his decent significantly. RexGuy landed directly next to SnailGuy, shattering the ground around him, and causingSnailGuy's sample to fly a dozen feet into the air, then fall back into the crater. As he did, drops of acid came flying out, and landed on RexGuy's body, though they had no effect on him, as he lumbered towards him, cracking his knuckles.

"Listen here, you shelled slug." RexGuy said, menacingly. "You're going back in the Optitrix, one way or the other!"

RexGuy grabbed SnailGuy's sample, and as he did, the Omnitrix symbol began beeping blue, before bothSnailGuy, AND RexGuy disappeared, leaving a human Matheo coughing as he stumbled out of the smoking crater.

"Yeah..." He said, in a daze. "And let that be a lesson to ya."

"Slimisapien DNA recovered." The Optitrix beeped in confirmation.

"Awesome." Matheo said, as Kate floated down, and neutralized the last of the acid by blasting it with water.

"You know, I'm really surprised that worked." Kate said, thoughtfully. "You ready to go get that next alien?"

"No!" Matheo said, plopping on the ground, out of breath. "Let's take a break."

"If there's time." Kate said, shrugging.

As she said this, a large, orange, eyeless beat came charging down the road in front of them, as people began running from it, into the park. Kate and Matheo looked at each other, then back to the street.

"DOGGUY got out, too? … Okay, there's no time for a break." Matheo admitted, as Kate picked him up, and flew after the DogGuy sample.

()

SpiderMonkey gulped, as he saw the large fountain base, barreling at him, and quickly slapped hisSplicatrix symbol, before once again becoming embraced by a harsh blue glow.

()

SpiderMonkey's 8 arms became large, orange, and muscular. He grew a snout, and several sharp teeth. His Omnitrix symbol grew 4 sharp protrusions, resembling an 'X.'

()

SpiderRathgrew 4 claws out of his 4 front hands, before using them to slice the fountain base in half, and jumped through it.

"SPIDERRATH!" He screamed, before retracting his claws, and punching DiamondGuy full force, with 6 of his arms, sending him sprawling backwards, and landing on his head. "And you, were just leaving!"

DiamondGuy growled angrily, both running at SpiderRath, and grabbing his head, slamming it into the brick road, then throwing him into a tree. As DiamondGuy ran over to him, SpiderRath tore the tree out of the ground, and used it to smack DiamondGuy through the fence into the road, where a semi-truck honked, and hit him, head-on, smacking DiamondGuy into a nearby alley.

"Home-run!" SpiderRath yelled, and chased after him, before the DogGuy sample ran into him, and dragged him incredibly quickly through the city streets. "THIS ISN'T OVER!" He yelled at the DiamondGuysample.

()

Meanwhile, Kate, who had changed to Yunai, was carrying Besu through the sky, and she lowered herself down, so she could get a better look at the DogGuy sample.

"Hey... I think that's Todd!" Yunai said, pointing at SpiderRath, who was currently trying to get DogGuy to stop dragging him.

"Oh, CRAP!" Besu said. "Yunai, we gotta go home, right now!"

"Would you get over it?!" Yunai yelled in response. "He could use our help, and you'll fall faster!"

"WHAT?!" Besu yelled, as she dropped him.

Besu looked at his Optitrix, which was already good-to-go. He activated it, and scrolled to another one of his new aliens, this one being small, and having three spikes on his head.

"Good thing today's the day of free recharges!" Besu yelled, and slammed the core down, exploding into a red light, and transforming into:

"FASTGUY?!" He said in horror, as he looked at himself. "This is a really bad-!"

He couldn't finish his sentence, as he was interrupted by slamming face-first into the concrete road. The cars around came screeching to a halt, and started honking at him. He got up sheepishly, and tried to apologize, but the car horns continued honking even more, so he just decided to chase after the car, anyways.

()

Meanwhile, Yunai was catching up to the DogGuy sample, and mutated her right arm into HandyMan's, before using her 2 new arms to tear the lamp-post out of the ground, and smacked DogGuy in the head with it. As a result, she smacked both SpiderRath AND DogGuy into the air, as they both landed on top of a skyscraper. Yunai gasped, and flew to the top of the building, landing on the roof.

"Kate?!" She heard a voice say. "Is that you?"

She looked down, to see SpiderRath getting up, and rubbing his head. She floated down, and bit her lip.

"What's going on here?! Why are a bunch of Matheo's running around wreaking havoc?!"

"They're not Matheo..." Yunai said, nervously.

"Then what's the deal?"

"I don't really know?" Yunai said, worriedly.

"Okay, fine, keep your secrets." SpiderRath said, shaking his head. "Now, where'd that DogGuy go?"

"I don't know, but he's probably either on a different building, or climbing down this one."

"Good point." SpiderRath agreed, before he paused, and hesitated. "But... If that's the case, then what's that noise?"

"Uh... What noise?" Yunai asked, looking around. "I don't hear any-"

She stopped herself, because she DID hear something, and it sounded like glass and concrete repeatedly being cracked. It almost sounded like something was punching holes in the building... Or, maybe even climbing it.

"I think something's scaling the building!" Yunai said, looking back at SpiderRath. "It sounds really heavy, too!"

"Oh crap." SpiderRath said. "I think we've been follo-"

The twins were interrupted, by the DNA sample of leaping onto the building's roof, and yelling in anger, and lunging directly at SpiderRath, who's eyes widened.

"Not again."

()

FastGuy was finally about to catch up with the DogGuy sample, when suddenly, Yunai dropped in out of nowhere, holding a lamp-post, and used it to smack both SpiderRath, and DogGuy's sample onto the top of a skyscraper.

"What the-?!" FastGuy yelled, slowing down, and watching Yunai fly to the top of the building, too. "HEY! What do you think you're doing?!"

FastGuy ran directly into the wall, then running up the wall, around the building in a spiral. As he was doing this, DogGuy's sample came flying down from the building, and landed on top of a much smaller building next to the skyscraper. FastGuy yelled in frustration, and changed directions, before he jumped off of the side of the skyscraper, and landed next to DogGuy, who resumed running around on top of the rooftops, jumping from one roof to the next.

"Oh, no you don't!" FastGuy yelled, speeding after him. "You're not getting away easy!"

FastGuy vaulted over several roof pipes, and jumped onto the roof's exit, before leaping off, and landing on the next building. He ran up to DogGuy, and grabbed at him, but missed. FastGuy yelled in anger, which startled DogGuy's sample, causing him to fall into the alleyway below, and FastGuy as well. They both fell into the lid of a dumpster, before bouncing off of it in separate directions.

"Okay, nowhere to run." FastGuy said, having cornered DogGuy's sample. "This'll be quick, big guy."

FastGuy reached a claw out to DogGuy, and grabbed his shoulder, but nothing happened. He tried again, but to no avail.

"What the heck?!" FastGuy yelled. "What's going on, why are you still HERE?! THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

FastGuy's yelling startled DogGuy, who promptly swatted him into the concrete wall, and began running off.

"Oh, no, not again!" FastGuy yelled, running after the sample, once again.

()

"We gotta get outta here, right now, sis!" SpiderRath insisted, but Yunai merely stepped up, and cricked her neck.

"Not a chance." She said, smugly. "I'm taking this walking chandelier DOWN."

"That's not your best idea!" SpiderRath insisted, though he wasn't about to try this fusion's ability to crawl on walls.

Yunai ran at DiamondGuy's sample, mutating her arms into Refractors, and attacked him, however he quickly overpowered her, and threw her over the edge of the building, before SpiderRath caught her, and pulled her back up.

"This guy's tough." Yunai said, fully mutating herself into a female Refractor. "But not tough enough!"

"Yunai, are you sure about this?!"

"Quit being a baby, bro! He's just a DNA sample, he probably doesn't even know whats happening right now!"

"Or maybe he can think of more deadly ways to kill us since he ISN'T a human?!"

"Trust me, that's not how these things work. Now are you gonna help me wipe this dude, or not?"

"... Fine." SpiderRath agreed, as the 2 turned to face the DiamondGuy sample.

The twins both ran at him, as Yunai created a barrage of spindly, diamond limbs that rose out of the ground below them, and began attacking the DiamondGuy sample, who shielded himself, before combusting the shield, and destroying the limbs. In the explosion of diamond shards, SpiderRath came flying through the mess, and delivered a devastating punch directly in DiamondGuy's face, causing him to stumble onto his back.

Yunai leapt into the air, and, during her descent, kicked DiamondGuy's sample directly through the roof of the building into the top floor. "Going down!" She yelled.

"Nice going!" SpiderRath said, grabbing DiamondGuy's shoulders, and throwing him through the window next to him, causing him to fall down to the road below.

"Thanks, I've always's been pretty 'cable'-ale of these things!"

"... I don't get it" SpiderRath replied.

"You know, like 'elevator cable?' "

"Oooh, like with an elevator... I get it."

"Was it that hard to understand?"

()

FastGuy fell out of the sky, yelling all the while, and grabbed onto DogGuy's shoulders, before he managed to reabsorb him into the Optitrix. There was a bright flash of orange light, and a now human Besu fell into the sidewalk, as the Optitrix confirmed that Besu had been re-captured. He reactivated the GPS, only to discover that the next alien was just around the corner from him, and it was:

"FaceBall?" He asked, before a black, rock-like object fell directly at his feet.

Besu's eyes widened. He yelled, and grabbed the ball, and threw it back to where it came from, causing it to explode, the reverb being enough to push Besu onto his back, as he shouted out in pain. As he got up, he saw FaceBall, walking blankly, shooting a bomb at even the slightest inconvenience, like a pebble, for example.

"Okay, FaceBall." Besu said, calmly. "You need to come with me, okay?"

In response, FaceBall shot a nonexplosive projectile into Besu's chest, doubling him over in pain, before he continued on his destructive stroll.

"Okay, you wanna play it like that?" Besu asked through clenched teeth, before activating his Optitrix. "Fine, but you're not gonna like what comes next."

He slammed the core down, and transformed into:

"ROLLGUY!" He yelled, as he curled up into a ball, and careened directly into FaceBall, running him over.

"Huh." RollGuy said, looking at his handiwork. "Uh... Yeah, okay, that was easy... Too easy, almost."

RollGuy bent over, and reabsorbed FaceBall into his Optitrix, and transformed back into a human. He nodded happily at the fact that he'd gotten so many aliens back, before he heard the sound of metal breaking behind him, and looked to see DiamondGuy rolling off of a completely destroyed car, and muttering under his breath.

"Speak of the devil." Besu said, and pointed his Optitrix at him. "You're coming with me!"

DiamondGuy got to his feet and looked at Besu, before noting his Optitrix. He yelled in anger, before picking up the nearby car, and chucking it at Besu, who froze, before running out of the way.

"Holy crap!" Besu shouted, running for dear life. "When did they get SMART?!"

DiamondGuy landed in front of him, and prepared to beat Besu into the ground, before he was suddenly electrocuted, causing a large explosion, sending DiamondGuy sprawling back a good way. Besu turned back around to see Amphibian, rising from the ground, and crossing his tentacles, judgingly.

"It's not okay to beat people up." He said, before turning to Besu, and crossing his arms. "I knew it." He pointed to Besu's Optitrix. "You tried to mess with that thing again, didn't you?"

"Wha-a-at?" Besu asked, trying to play it cool. "No, me? Never."

"And now, you've got to reabsorb these guys, right?"

"... Okay yeah, I did."

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Amphibian sighed, before turning to DiamondGuy, who had recovered, and was lumbering towards them, once again. "This guy, on the other hand."

Amphibian flew directly into the DiamondGuy sample, causing him to become even more electrocuted.

"Hyu, what are you doing?!" Besu asked, fearfully. "You know DiamondGuy doesn't get affected by electricity!"

Amphibian flew out of DiamondGuy, and turned back to him, to see he was, indeed, unaffected.

"I see." Was all he said, before DiamondGuy grabbed him, and flung him into a fire hydrant.

()

Meanwhile, Yunai was flying after GoldenGuy's DNA sample, at top speed. For whatever reason,GoldenGuy's sample was flying around the entirety of the city, extremely fast. His look was blank, as with the rest of the samples, and he didn't say anything. Yunai flew over to him, before mutating her arms into Refractor's, before she grabbed onto the board, and mutated the rest of her body into a female version of Refractor.

"Let's see you keep flying after this, fly boy!"

She was bringing the board down, and in response, GoldenGuy simply stared ahead, unfazed. However, they were quickly picking up speed, and were approaching the ground ever quickly, but it was still going to take forever. So, Yunai pulled the rest of the board to her chest, and mutated wings on her back, and used that to fly down, even quicker to the surface.

"So..." She said, trying to strike up a conversation. "Wanna talk about something?"

()

"Okay, time to try a new approach." Besu said, before pressing the second button on the other side of his Optitrix, after he activated it.

"Optimal pre-selection mode activated." The Optitrix said.

Besu grinned, and spun the rim of the Optitrix as if it were a roulette, and slammed down the core a few seconds later, exploding in electrifying red light, and transforming into:

"OPTIMAL ARMSGUY!" He yelled.

Optimal ArmsGuy's arms were covered with forwards-facing spikes, and his knuckles were all covered with iron. His whole body was covered in a skin-tight armor, presumably supplied by the Optitrix, and lastly, his Omnitrix symbol grew 4 protrusions, causing it to resemble an 'X.'

"Alright, glossy boy, let's dance!" Optimal ArmsGuy said, grabbing DiamondGuy's ankles, hoisting him into the air, before slamming him head-first into the pavement.

He then spun around in a circle several times, building up momentum, before letting go, sendingDiamondGuy flying into a taxi. Then, finally, Optimal ArmsGuy reabsorbed DiamondGuy back into the Optitrix, and was forcibly retransformed back into a human.

"That was a quick time-out." Amphibian said, floating over, and rubbing his head.

"It happens whenever I re-absorb one of those guys." Besu explained. I have to make physical contact with them for a certain amount of time, and BOOM, they're back!"

"So, who's left?"

"Only one guy." Besu confirmed. "GoldenGuy."

"Oh, seriously?" Amphibian turned back to human. "Yunai's on that already!"

"Speaking of..." Besu pointed to the sky above them, to see Yunai, flying into the ground,and piledrivingGoldenGuy into the concrete, before holding him down.

"Guys!" Yunai yelled, straining to stop him from escaping. "Any day now!"

Besu nodded, and connected the Optitrix, with GoldenGuy's body, causing him to disappear, and become reabsorbed into the Optitrix, as it began to beep.

"DNA-Library restored." It confirmed.

"Alright!" Hyu shouted, high-fiving Besu, and Yunai. "We did it!"

"You can say that again!" Yunai agreed. "Now, let's go home."

"Sure, but..." Hyu turned to Besu. "Before we do... Besu, why'd you try to hack the Optitrix, again?"

"Because I wanted to prove I could go to BellWood, and figure out what's up with the... The whole place, really. But you didn't listen to me!"

"It's not that I didn't listen." Hyu said, trying to find the right words. "I just wanted you to think about the ramifications of your actions, you know?"

"Whatever." Besu said. "But you'll consider going, someday, right?"

"Duh, of course I will." Hyu said, patting his brother's shoulder. "But we have to also try to live in the now, you know?'

Besu smiled, and hugged his brother. "Thanks, dude."

"Uh, no problem? I, uh, didn't know this meant so much to you."

"I just, kinda, want to prove myself, you know?" Besu replied.

"Well, you don't have to." Hyu looked to both his siblings. "Now, who's ready to go home?"


	4. R4: Vilgax Stranded!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While attempting to make his way back to Earth, Vilgax is attacked, and stranded on a desert planet. Now, he must desperately fight for his life while he tries to find a way off the planet!

"Increase the ship's speed!" Vilgax demanded, banging an almost fully-formed arm against the side of the tube. "We must reach Earth! I will not lose the Omnitrixes again!"

"Yes sir!" One of his grunts replied, pushing a lever forwards, causing the ship to rapidly speed up.

"Years of defeat, years of disappointment. These inexperienced younglings are my only shot at getting an Omnitrix."

"What about the other 2?" A higher-ranked soldier inquired. "If you had such trouble with only a single wielder, perhaps 3 would make such a task impossible."

"True." Vilgax noted. "Perhaps it would be wise to acquire a few partners before we make our move."

"But, where would we find anyone of comparable strength to you, Vilgax?" Psyphon asked, his hands behind his back.

"An excellent question indeed." Vilgax said, thoughtfully.

Suddenly, the ship around them shook violently, causing Vilgax's healing chamber to disengage, and fly out of it's holding bay. The chamber was thrown into the wall, and exploded, sending Vilgax rolling onto the floor. His missing arm was scabbed over, and bloody. He looked towards the ceiling, and saw that a large hole was being cut in it.

"We're being boarded." Vilgax said.

"We're going to die!" One of the grunts yelled.

"No, maybe these could be the allies we were hoping for!" Psyphon yelled, hopefully.

"Not in this part of the galaxy." Vilgax replied. "Damn it, if only I wasn't weakened. I could send these bandits back where they came from as soon as they touched my ship... !"

Through the hole in the ship, a grenade was thrown through it, and exploded into a red smoke seconds after. Vilgax heard his grunts scream in pain, before it was stopped. He saw several hooded figures emerge from the smoke, staring at him with yellow, glowing eyes.

"What do you want...?" Vilgax asked weakly, before they each nodded to one another, and attacked him, knocking him unconscious.

The smoke cleared soon afterwards, revealing that everyone aboard the ship had been rendered unconscious, as well. Another larger, rectangular hole was cut through one of the walls, and a bridge was erected between Vilgax's ship, and the attacker's ship. The figures grabbed Vilgax's crew members, and dragged them into their ship.

"What about that one?" A figure with a dark-grey robe asked, pointing at Vilgax, crippled, and writhing in pain.

"Leave it." A figure in a blue robe replied. "He was likely some sort of pet. It would just another mouth for us to feed."

The grey figure nodded, and the group of figures exited the ship, and re-boarded their own ship, leaving Vilgax's ship crewless, and looted, and drifting through space.

()

Vilgax saw himself, floating through an endless, green, black, and white void. He looked around, in confusion. Suddenly, he saw millions of versions of Ben Tennyson, all surrounding him. They began laughing at him, and transforming into different types of aliens, and using them to tear Vilgax apart, taunting him all the while.

"Hey, Vil-Geek!" One yelled, punching him across his face. "You really couldn't do anything right!"

"Some warlord!" Another joined in, dropkicking him in the stomach.

"You got your butt kicked by a KID!" The 10-year-old version yelled, before transforming into WayBig, and punching him into the ground.

Vilgax groaned in pain, before that groan turned into a full-on shout, and became surrounded by purple fire. The Bens stopped, for a moment. It was enough time for him to tear the Omnitrixes off their arms, and lift them into the air, and cause them to explode, killing multiple Bens close to him. He grinned, maniacally.

"You kids really are NOTHING without your toys." Vilgax said, before firing several fiery beams form his body, annihilating the Bens around him effortlessly.

After the massacre was finished, he saw only a single Ben left, still wearing an Omnitrix, and glaring at him.

"How dare you still live!" Vilgax shouted, running at him.

Ben activated his Omnitrix, and transformed into a man, as black as space, with stares all around his body, and a white outline. He had three horns extruding from his head, green eyes, and a green Omnitrix symbol on his chest.

Vilgax stopped in his tracks. "A celestialsapien...?"

Ben lifted his hand, and in an instant, the vision was over.

()

Vilgax awoke, to see the current state of his ship, and that his body had fully regenerated.

"How long have I been unconscious?" Vilgax asked, looking around the ship, before he remembered. "Those looters!"

He stood up, and banged his arm into the side of the ship, causing another hole in the wall to open, and sand to fly through it.

"That is strange. The temperature here is far too hot to be Earth. It must be some kind of desert planet."

He exited the ship, and looked around the heated environment, putting a hand over his eyes, He suddenly recoiled back into the shade of the ship. Since his left arm had only just regenerated, it couldn't take this planet's heat. Vilgax groaned, before he grabbed a still remaining cloth banner, and fashioned it into a cloak, which would cover most of his body from the heat.

"Those rats must have disabled the fuel systems. Afterwards, this planet's atmosphere pulled me towards it." Vilgax said, thinking aloud as he exited the ship, and traversed the planet. "It doesn't matter, though. It's going to take much more than this to deny me."

()

Vilgax trekked across the barren wasteland for many hours, with only his hatred of Ben Tennyson, and his lust for the Omnitrix keeping him going. He was, however, quickly beginning to starve. He estimated he could only keep going for another couple of hours. Thankfully, it had become nighttime, so he had an easier time seeing things.

"With luck." Vilgax said, looking around the planet. "I won't be the only one out here at night."

However, as he was looking, his back was suddenly struck by 2 large thorns, which impaled him. He clenched his teeth, and breathed through them. The animal that attacked him shook it's head, before dislodging his body, and sending him rolling down the sand-dune he was on the top of. Vilgax clutched his bleeding gut, before glaring back up at the silhouette of the animal.

"Just what I needed." He said, before taking off his cloak, and speedily tying it into a bandage for his chest.

Vilgax leaped onto the sand-dune, before landing in front of the animal. It resembled a mammoth, but with dark green, striped fur, and 4 eyes, as well as generally being much larger, as well. Vilgax shouted out, and grabbed onto it's tusks, before breaking them off, and slamming them together. The creature stumbled backwards in pain, before rolling off the dune, howling all the while. It fell into the bottom of the dune, with a large explosion of sand, trying to stand up. Vilgax stood over it, clutching the tusks, menacingly.

"A valiant fight." He said, triumphantly. "But a futile one."

He jumped into the air, and used the velocity to drive the tusks into the animal's side. The creature saw him, however, and grabbed him with it's trunk, before driving him, head-first, into the sand. Vilgax shook off the pain, only to see the creature standing above him. It opened it's jaws, and attempted to eat Vilgax. He grabbed the creatures top and bottom jaws in response, and yelled, before snapping it's mouth backwards. The creature's blood spilled onto Vilgax's face, before he shoved it off of him.

"I think you've got this backwards." Vilgax said, grabbing the tusks. "YOU'RE the meal."

He stabbed the creature repeatedly with the tusks, and carved a large hole in it's innards. Vilgax grinned. He laid it's fur coat across the ground, and set it alight using his eye-lasers. He turned back to the creature's corpse, and prepared to gut it.

()

That night, Vilgax sat next to the fire, staring off into the distance. He thought of his brother, Nardloj. The 2 of them had always idolized conflicts of war. They'd often play pretend, in which Nardloj encouraged his bother to pretend as if he was actually killing him. When he'd refuse, Nardloj would say nothing, but gave him a sad, almost disappointed look.

()

"I don't get it." Vilgax said, a child, and sitting in the grass, next to his brother. "Why does it have to be all... realistic?"

"Because the war will be." Nardloj replied, solemnly.

"What war?"

"The Enzyme war. We're fighting against the Limaxes, who've developed biological weapons." Nardloj chuckled under his breath. "We come from a family of warlords, Vilgax. You'll have to fight in that war soon. Sooner than you should..." He paused. "... Sooner than anyone should."

"You'll be there, right?" Vilgax asked, not skipping a beat.

Nardloj stopped, and looked at him in surprise. "Oh, I... I thought you'd be scared."

"I'm not scared." Vilgax replied. "Because I know you'll be there, right next to me."

"It's not always going to be like that, you know."

"Yes, it will. No war will tear us apart."

Nardloj smiled, and put his hand on Vilgax's shoulder. "I hope so."

()

Vilgax's relaxed hand became a fist. He cringed at how naïve he used to be. Though, if he was being honest, it wasn't his fault. It was Nardloj's, for making war seem fun, and innocent, merely so he could become enthralled with it at a young age. He looked over to his makeshift fire, which had died out a while ago, and was now only a few embers, floating off into the night.

"Those days are behind me." He reassured himself. "And for good reason."

Vilgax was no longer a child, and he refused to fantasize about being one. He stood up, and began walking again, into the infinite horizon.

()

The sun was rising, now. It was morning. And Vilgax was unaffected. He never understood why certain races were so enthralled by the sky, only because of the sun's reflection. Instead, he continued onwards. There was a large ravine in the sand, with various pieces of junk within it ahead of him. He jumped into the pit, sliding to a halt once he reached the bottom.

"Intriguing." Vilgax said, looking around himself. "A civilization appears to have existed here at some time."

As he finished this thought, a floating, angular, slim vehicle rammed into him, causing him to skid back into the sand. He lodged one of his claws into the sand to stop himself from falling onto his back. Vilgax looked up at the ship, and saw an alien teenager, with green skin, and two tentacles coming out of the back of her head mounting it. There was a helmet blocking her face, but Vilgax could tell from her body language that she wasn't used to seeing a Chimera Sui Generis on this planet.

"Or perhaps it is still inhabited." Vilgax said to himself, as he saw the vehicle turning around.

Vilgax ran towards an exposed, massive chunk of rebar, tore it out of the sand, and pointed it at his assailant. He grunted, and threw it at the driver, who, in response, raised her hand, and telekinetically gripped it, and instantly tore it into 2 pieces, before re-angling them, and launching them at Vilgax. He dived out of the way, narrowly missing the speeding vehicle.

"Who are you?" Vilgax asked the girl, but she didn't respond. "I do not hail from this planet. I need to acquire a ship, and travel to a planet known as 'Earth.' Do you know where that is?"

"Don't try to converse with me." The girl replied, annoyed. "Even if I wanted to, this plant has no 'ship.' If it did, I'd be out of here a long time ago, that's for sure."

"Impossible." Vilgax replied, walking towards the girl.

"It's true." The girl sighed. "But you're not going anywhere, ship or no ship."

"Why do you continue to attack me? I am not your enemy. I have crash-landed on this planet by accident, I have no quarrel with you."

"Then why am I giving you such a hard time?"

"Because I don't wish to fight with you. You are the first living species I have come into contact with in days."

"Flattering." The girl said, sarcastically. "But I'm not going to help you. I'm here to hunt monsters like you."

"If you wish to interfere with my mission, very well." Vilgax said, removing his cloak, revealing extremely dark-green arms, charred from the heat, and faintly-glowing veins. "But I should warn you, I am far more dangerous than I appear!"

Vilgax sprinted at the girl, leaving a vertical shockwave behind him, spraying sand in several directions. The girl grinned, and telekinetically grabbed a chunk of rebar, before charging her vehicle at him, holding the chunk like a jousting pole. Vilgax jumped over the vehicle, but the girl was prepared, as she swiftly hoisted the rebar up, scratching his shoulder enough for it to begin to bleed. Vilgax landed on the ground, clutching his shoulder.

"You like it?" The girl asked, pointing to her vehicle. "It's an all-new model, the JUP-31."

"I don't care." Vilgax said.

He was struggling to even stay standing at this point. The technicians had warned that the best course of action would be for him to remain stationary for a couple weeks, but now, here he was, brawling with some random alien, fighting tooth-and-nail for his own life. It wasn't ideal, and it would probably have killed a lesser man, but, as he had said, Vilgax didn't care.

"Yeah, well." The girl shrugged. "You will when I run you OVER with it."

She cranked up the fuel, and sped at Vilgax once again. He looked up, slightly dazed, but threw his hands forwards, catching the JUP, and pushing against it. His claws left massive dents in the JUP's armor plating, and he shouted through clenched teeth. In an instant, he tore through the protective layer, and ripped out the JUP's engine, causing it to sputter, shake, and fall to the ground, sending the girl flying into the sand. Vilgax walked over to her, and glared down at her.

"Okay, alright." The girl said, rolling over, and sitting up. "You win. Happy?"

"Far from it." Vilgax said, crossing his arms. "I am still weakend, and still stranded. I should kill you for your impotence."

"So... May I as what you're waiting for?" She asked.

"Because, I may need your help. Perhaps you could lead me back to your city, and to a Radio Tower. I may be able to contact Vilgaxia, and request a back-up ship."

"Oh, I don't hail from a city, more of a village. But we DO actually have a Comms Unit. I think you could use that."

"Very well." Vilgax nodded. "I suppose we will be walking, as well."

"Unfortunately, yes." The girl sighed. "Could you help me up?"

Vilgax wordlessly outstretched his hand, and the girl grabbed it, and was pulled up. She pulled off her helmet, revealing a face with no nose.

"I suppose we should get introductions out of the way." The girl said, looking to Vilgax. "Name's Maya. Nice to meetcha."

"Vilgax, conqueror of worlds." He replied.

"Very funny." Maya rolled her eyes. "Vilgax is dead. And even if he wasn't you would NOT be him. He has no reason to be here."

"I am not here on purpose."

"Yeah, sure." Maya said, starting to walk. "Your just some random Chimera pretending to be famous. I get it, I've done that before."

"Fine." Vilgax said, walking with her. "Which planet have I been stranded on, by the way?"

"Klagrod" Maya replied. "Not much to attract tourists, but it's nice if you want a different token desert planet than your other token desert planets."

"I see." Vilgax nodded. "I haven't done any gross amounts of research on this planet, but from what I do know, it does seem to match-up."

"Yeah. I get that one quite a bit." Maya nodded.

"How far away, exactly, is this village of yours?" Vilgax asked.

"Eh." Maya shrugged. "It's quite a ways away. I'd estimate a good 12 hours."

"Walking, or driving?"

"Driving." Maya said. "Uh... Sorry."

"It's alright." Vilgax sighed. "We have the chill of the night to keep us refreshed. I suppose that's the most we could hope for."

"Actually, I might know a shortcut, if you're in a time-crunch." Maya suggested. "The railway, it's only about a mile from here. If we get lucky, we could jump onto one of the trains running to the village."

"Not a bad idea." Vilgax said. "Very well. Direct me to this railway."

()

"I want to go home." Nardloj said, lying on his bunk-bed, in the barracks.

"What happened to good attitude?" Vilgax replied, smarmily.

"Can it." Nardloj replied. "Borrak was killed today in the field, and nobody said anything. My best friend. I loved him. And now he's just gone."

"It probably sucks." Vilgax said, trying to relate to him.

"You wouldn't get it." Nardloj rolled over in his bed. "I'm your only friend here. You'll never know what it's like to have to put up with somebody leaving you, forever."

"And that's a good thing." Vilgax said, sternly. "No matter what happened to Borrak, it won't happen to me. We'll always be together, right?"

"I can have more than one friend, you know."

"Apparently not."

Nardloj jumped out from his bunk, and landed on the floor, waking up everyone around him. He grabbed Vilgax from his covers, and slammed him against the wall.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Nardloj yelled in Vilgax's face. "He was my best friend, and you don't even care! Nobody cares!"

"You'll never get anywhere in war if you get choked up over a single death." Vilgax said, quietly. "That's what Dad always said. We're a family of warlords, Nardloj. You're not gonna last if you keep this up."

"Shut up!" Nardloj punched the wall next to Vilgax's face, narrowly missing it. "War, or not, you're my brother... I don't want to lose you to this whole 'tough guy' act... Like Dad."

"Our father was a famous, and effective fighter. He never lost a single battle, because he never showed any weakness against an enemy."

Nardloj dropped Vilgax to the floor. He was speechless. He only got into his bed, and began to sob. Vilgax looked around, and saw the other soldiers staring at him. He coughed awkwardly, before climbing into bed, as well.

()

"I wonder what you're thinking about, back there." Maya called to Vilgax. "You haven't said a word all hour."

"I don't see why it concerns you." Vilgax muttered.

"How are we supposed to be a dynamic duo, if you go mute every few seconds?"

"We are not a duo." Vilgax groaned. "I'm a notorious galactic warlord, and you are a teenager who happens to have the information I need."

"Not with that attitude." Maya laughed.

"I've had enough jocular attitude for one lifetime."

"Why? Did I bring up some bad memories?"

"Yes, actually. Let's just say once I get to Earth, and finish my mission, it'll be good to actually deal with a serious and solemn war atmosphere, and not have to constantly deal with immature children."

"Ah." Maya nodded. "Bad parenting experience."

"Perhaps you should quit guessing."

"Oop, wait!" Maya yelled, pointing at a bright light behind them. "Here comes the train!"

"Brilliant." Vilgax smirked.

The two of them began sprinting away ahead of the train. It ran past them, revealing a hundred train cars, as well. Vilgax reached his arm out towards the side of a car, and unraveled it into a dozen small, thick tendrils. He looked at Maya, who grabbed his other arm. Then, he wrapped his other hand around an exposed pipe on of the nearest car, lifting the pair off the ground.

"This is way better than my plan!"

"So it would seem!" Vilgax replied.

"Hey!" Maya grinned. "You just cracked a joke!"

"I'm not incapable of humor. Now hold on!"

Vilgax threw Maya onto the car, before pulling himself onto the roof, and breathing a sigh of relief. He examined his arm, which suddenly began to shoot pain through his body. Vilgax winced. The adrenaline must have cloaked the pain, but it was definitely still there.

"You're not in the best condition, are you?" Maya asked, slightly worried.

"No, I don't suppose I am." Vilgax sat down, cross-legged on the roof.

"What happened... Y'know, if you don't mind my asking."

"Surgery." Vilgax said. "I fused with a corrupted Galvanic Mechamorph, before being petrified, and sent into space to corrode for years. Before I could fully recover, my ship was attacked, looted, and I was left for dead on this barren planet."

"Ouch."

"Indeed... I don't suppose there's a tunnel coming up ahead of us? It would only be appropriate with my recent luck."

"No, no." Maya said. "No tunnels. It's all flat out here."

"Then, perhaps this ride could be somewhat relaxing. I believe I've missed that."

Maya nodded. "... So, who are you, really? I mean, do you really expect me to believe that you're ACTUALLY Vilgax?"

"You don't need to believe me. It doesn't matter."

"Well, if you were, I'd love to fight under you."

Vilgax looked at her, no expression visible on his face.

"It has been a long time since I've heard those words. I don't think I've heard that since I began my very 1st expedition to Earth."

"Well, we don't do very much fighting out here, and if what I've heard is true, you'd honestly be the best choice. You're effective, and you've got that whole lineage aspect."

"Yes. Though I suppose I won't be fighting too many wars until get off this planet."

"Hopefully by then you could tell me who you really are."

Vilgax stared at her. "Why is it so impossible for you to believe the truth? I AM Vilgax.'

"No, you're not." Maya shook her head. "Vilgax was my hero. He was everyone's hero. And he died a warrior's death, fighting the Notorious Ben Tennyson. You can't be him."

"My apologies for not appearing as noble as you would have wanted." Vilgax muttered.

"I mean, as if Vilgax, scourge of the universe, conqueror of worlds, would have been trapped on some planet by a random group of looters."

"Then perhaps you should refrain from meeting your heroes more often, child."

"I guess so." Maya looked up to the stars. "But maybe that's just how I am. Everyone back at the village always looked down on me. I always thought that if I could just meet Vilgax, just once, I could talk him into making me a legendary soldier, and have everyone FINALLY respect me, but... Well, now I guess that day's never coming."

"... You certainly have... Potential, when it comes to fighting."

"Yeah, I guess I do." Maya chuckled. "It started when I was a kid, things would just kind of start floating, or get flung across the room, randomly. I only just learned to control it a couple years ago. I call it 'MindBind,' for short."

"An ability like that could be incredibly useful on the battle field." Vilgax remarked. "If I were you, I wouldn't give up hope of becoming respected."

Maya's eyes became misty. She nodded, before starting to shiver.

"Hey, we should try and get inside the train car. It's cold out here." She muttered through chattering teeth.

"Yes, we should." Vilgax raised his hand above his head, and struck the train car roof with his claws.

He then used his index finger to carve a circular hole in the roof, before taking out the chunk he had separated, and flinging it to the sand. He motioned to Maya, and she jumped through the hole, and landed on the floor of the car, followed by Vilgax seconds later. His entire body still ached with pain, so he instantly fell over, and slumped against the side of the car.

"Hey, hey." Maya caught him, and lowered him down, gently. "Take it easy."

"I don't need your concern." Vilgax said.

"Yes, you do." Maya shook her head. "You may be a 'warlord,' but you can still be hurt. Now hold still."

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Relax. On this planet, you're dead meat if you don't know how to patch a wound correctly."

"You fool, there is no wound!" Vilgax said, straining himself. "My body is simply fragile. I can't take to keep running around."

"Right, okay." Maya tapped her foot. "Oh, I've got it. I'll pressure the spot that's in pain. How's that sound?"

"It sounds... Fine enough. I suppose it can't make things worse."

Maya took a small suitcase from her belt, and laid it on the ground. She removed a flexible bandaging device from it, and pressed it to Vilgax's chest.

"Where does it hurt?" She asked, moving it to the right. "Here?"

"No, the pain is on my left si-AH." Vilgax flinched.

"Found it." Maya grabbed a soft pack from the case, and pressed it to his side, before wrapping around his entire midsection, tightly. "There we go, anything else?"

"Well, there's also my left arm."

"Sure, what's the problem with that."

"I need you to make it numb. It hurts every time I try to do anything with it."

"Is that so?" Maya asked, looking through her case, before finding a device, resembling a magnifying glass, with a green lens. "Hmm. You said that it was in pain due to surgery, right?"

"Correct."

Maya turned the device on, and it projected a green light onto Vilgax's arm, allowing her to see his skeletal structure. She moved it over to the midpoint of his arm, before gasping.

"What's wrong with it?" Vilgax asked, eyeing her.

"Everything." Maya said, looking at it from different angles. "You're only supposed to have, like, a few bones in your arm, but you've got, like, twenty here."

"Twenty?" Vilgax asked.

"Yes. I think it was a byproduct of the unfinished surgery... These might be bone fragments. If that's the case, you're never gonna heal."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"The only reasonable solution, given our current tech, is..." May hesitated. "… To cut your arm open, fuse them into 2 larger bones, and put them back in."

"Are you insane?" Vilgax asked, looking at her. "Are you trying to KILL me?"

"If we don't do this, no surgery will ever be able to fix your arm. It's not perfect, but it's your only choice. Afterwards, I can give you a makeshift cast for your arm..."

"... Fine. But I assure you that if this does not work, you will not be returning to that village."

Maya gulped, but nodded, anyways. "You're skin's pretty tough. It's gonna take a while for any of my tools to cut through that."

"No need." Vilgax put his hand up. "You'll break your tools. I'll use my claws to cut it open."

"... Are you sure?" Maya asked.

"I'm sure." Vilgax replied, before digging his index finger into the top of his shoulder, deep, and groaned in pain.

He pulled the finger down along his arm, cutting a long, vertical hole down the center of his arm, and he tried to hold in his anguish. Maya forced the two halves open, and reached into the hole with tweezers, plucking out each fragment, and putting them in a bloody pile behind her. Once she had retrieved the final fragment, she lightly doused the pile, and sterilized the wound, so he wouldn't lost too much blood in the process.

"Have you ever had to do this on anyone before...?" Vilgax asked, drowsily, trying to not to black out.

"Myself." Maya admitted. "It happened when I was attacked by a Horner, you know, big furry, tusks."

"I've had an encounter with one, as well."

"Yeah. It ate my pet, Iggy." Maya replied. "I managed to retrieve him, but he lost his tail, and one of his eyes is permanently functionless. I... feel bad for him."

"A shame." Vilgax said, sympathetically.

Maya took out a small, elongated ring, and put 2 bones inside of it, before super heating it, fusing them together. She continued doing this for the next 20 minutes, and finally, she had 2 long, thick bones, which looked charred, and golden.

"These will have to do." She said, holding one up, before lodging it into the top half of Vilgax's arm.

"AH!" Vilgax moaned. "These are far too hot!"

"Relax, you big baby, I had to fuse them with fire. They're not gonna be a cozy temperature.

"... Just hurry it up." Vilgax sighed.

Maya put the second bone in, before taking a small, orange needle from her case. She heated it's tip, before attaching thin string to it, then jabbing it through the top of Vilgax's arm. Vilgax yelled, before falling unconscious once again. Maya smirked, and continued stitching his arm together.

()

There was a loud explosion, as Vilgax and his brother Nardloj leaped into a trench, as an explosion was set off behind them. They crouched behind the wall, out of breath.

"This is it!" He heard Nardloj shout. "We're gonnd die!"

"Get ahold of yourself." Vilgax commanded. "We're not going to die."

"You wouldn't even care if we did." Nardloj shot back.

"People die in war, brother! It's no big deal."

"Maybe not to you."

Vilgax looked at him, and shook his head. He ran over to the nearby ladder, and climbed up it.

"Vilgax, what are you doing!?"

"Teaching you a lesson." Vilgax replied. "You need to see that the only way we'll win is if we fight, not if we hide."

"Vilgax!" Nardloj screamed. "Come back!"

()

Vilgax sprinted across the battlefield, using his smaller size to his advantage, and easily dodging the fire that surrounded him. He and his brother were the only Chimera Sui Generis on the turf, so most of the soldiers didn't share his numerous advantages. His eyes glowed red, and he cut a large hole in the steel door in front of him.

"Enemy intruder!" A soldier in dark yellow armor yelled, and shot at him.

Vilgax leapt out of the way, digging his claws into the wall, and unraveling his arms, before grabbing ahold of the soldier, and throwing him into the other soldiers, as they yelled. He grinned, before racing up to the roof, and slamming his fist through it, and climbing above it. Once he was above, the only soldier there was manning a turret gun. Vilgax ran over, and grabbed the man, before causally throwing him over the edge, and grabbing onto the turret gun's controls.

"My turn." He said, before shooting at several enemy ships, causing them to explode seconds later.

He looked down, and saw his brother, who was smiling at him from the trenches. Vilgax vaulted down, and ran over to him, grinning.

"Did you see that?! I stormed the enemy base, and took down some of their reinforcements! I told you sitting and hiding would solve nothing!"

"Maybe you are right. I was merely worried about your safety, but maybe you have a point, after all."

"You can say that again."

Nardloj looked up, and saw one of the ships that Vilgax had shot down, and yelped, he lifted Vilgax over his head, before throwing him a dozen feet away. A split-second later, the ship crashed into him, exploding on impact, the aftermath enough to send Vilgax flying into the wall of the trench, and a pound of dirt fell on top of him.

"Nardloj...!" Vilgax realized, and scrambled to the top of the pit, before seeing the wreckage, and falling to his knees.

Vilgax tumbled backwards, back into the pit, tears streaming down his face. He shouted, but he could no longer hear it. His brother had died, the one thing he had foolishly believed could never happen. And he was right, Vilgax did care, but why, why did it have to happen like this?

"It was... My fault..." Vilgax said, to himself.

()

Vilgax was awoken by a loud horn, blaring from the front of the train, and seconds later, a short, alien man opened the train doors, and looked at him and Maya, who both nervously waved to the man, who

shook his head, and motioned to the 2 of them to get off the train. He looked at the hole in the ceiling, but said nothing.

"So, this is your town?" Vilgax asked, looking around.

They were standing in the middle of a small town, with roughly 20 small buildings, and dozens more huts. There were a hundred people standing around the train, and, by effect, Vilgax and Maya.

"Greetings, citizens." Vilgax proclaimed. "I am Vilgax, conqueror of worlds. Perhaps you may have heard of me."

"Hey, guys." Maya waved, nervously. "Look who I found?"

"Maya, sweetie." An old man in grey robes approached her. "Why were you in the desert, conversing with a warlord? What happened to him?"

"He's not a warlord, grandpa." Maya scoffed. "Not even close."

"Maya, look at him. He has just survived a close encounter with death. Perhaps Vilgax survived. The legends are only legends."

Maya looked at Vilgax, and sighed. "Perhaps you are." She sighed.

"And Maya." Vilgax said, kneeling down to her level. "You have saved my life, and getting me to admit such a thing is certainly no small feat."

Maya looked at him, suddenly awestruck. "You ARE him. I didn't see it before, but you are wise, aren't you?"

"I suppose that's a valid way to classify me. If you are still open, I could use a new crew when I take flight to Earth."

Maya smiled. "I'd be honored to join you, sir."

"And we'd be honored to allow her to." Her grandpa added.

"Very well." Vilgax cracked a slight smile. "Now, which way to the nearest radio station?"

()

"Thanks for helping me out with the farm work." Maya said, pulling a vegetable out from the soil. "I appreciate it."

"it's nothing." Vilgax said, lifting a bay of hale into a wooden cart. "After all, if I am going to fight in legendary battles again, I have to be able to at least do this meager task."

"I never thought I'd see the day where the legendary Vilgax welcomed me into his crew." Maya said. "i also never thought I'd see the day he helped me with pulling crops."

"Today is full of surprises, I take it?"

Maya snickered. "You should try to make jokes more often. You're not too bad at it."

"Do you think your parents will miss you?"

"Yeah, but I don't think they could be happier, knowing where I'll be."

"I understand the feeling, the conflict between your future, and the loved ones of the past."

"You do?" Maya asked, surprised.

"Yes. Contrary to what may very well be popular belief around here, I did actually used to have a family. Namely, a brother."

"What happened to them?" Maya asked, quietly.

"Depends." Vilgax sighed. "But they all taught me something. If not for my brother, I don't know what would have happened to me. He taught me that no matter the horrors of war, you still need to hold on to who you really are."

"I've heard a story like that." Maya remarked. "A lot of people think those who win wars repress their feelings. But I guess that isn't healthy, huh?"

"Not for me, though I know that different methods work for different people."

A ship soared overhead, and circled back into the center of the village, and several Chimera soldiers exited the ship's drop door. They waved to Vilgax, before they all became confused. Vilgax motioned to Maya, who followed him to the ship.

"Now would be the ideal time to say goodbyes." Vilgax said to her.

"No worries. I already did."

"Vilgax?! Why were you doing labor? Did these savages enslave you!?"

"Hardly." Vilgax said. "My surgery went awry. I was merely keeping myself in shape."

"Ah. I see." The soldier coughed awkwardly. "Well... Please, finish up."

"On the contrary, I'd like to exit this planet as quickly as possible."

"Okay... Oh, and who is this?"

"This is the first member of my new crew."

"Maya Anthraxx." She said, holding out her hand.

"Well, alright." Another soldier said, impressed. "So, where are you looking to travel, Master?"

"Vilgaxia, Preferably. I'll sort out everything after that." He looked to Maya, and the two nodded to each other. "Also, I'd like a room set up for her on Vilgaxia as well."

"Seriously?" Maya asked, surprised.

"Seriously." Vilgax replied, as the two entered the ship. "Now, go upstairs. The ship has a built-in library. You're going to need to read up on combat if you're going to be a soldier, you know."

Maya smiled, and climbed up the ladder, wordlessly. As she did, Vilgax sat down on the ship's bench, and smiled, as well. He would never admit it, but he enjoyed Maya's company. He was happy he'd met her. Honestly, he was just happy he'd survived all of this. He closed his eyes, and fell asleep.


	5. R5: Strained

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During a team exercise, Matheo quits the Katachi League.

One windy afternoon, in a small store, a man ran behind the building, holding a large bag of various items. He thumbed in a combination of numbers on the keypad, and it opened, allowing him to enter the store. 

“Finally.” He said to himself. “Now this oughta make a profit.” 

He stocked everything from the bag onto the various store shelves, before attaching price tags to each object, and standing back, grinning at his handiwork. 

“This oughta attract quite a few customers.” 

As he exited the store, and locked the door behind him, the windows began to subtly glow a strange, purple color, and emitting an odd noise, before stopping as the shopkeeper turned back. He shrugged, and walked away, whistling to himself, and twirling the keys on his index finger. 

() 

Kate’s fell backwards onto the carpeted floor, wearing a blindfold. She shouted in pain, and scrambled to her feet, before pulling the blindfold off, and angrily glaring at Matheo, who was looking at her, trying not laugh. 

“Hey, earth to Slo-Mo!” She said, raising her voice. “The whole point of trust falls is that you’re supposed to catch the person who’s trusting you!” 

“Yeah, well.” Matheo rolled his eyes, and shrugged. “I thought it’d be funny if you were put in your place.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kate asked, cracking her knuckles. 

“Whatever you want it to mean, sweetheart.” Matheo replied through gritted teeth. 

“Guys.” Todd said, stepping between them. “This is supposed to be a team exercise. You’re supposed to not want to kill each other by the end of it, preferably.” 

“With all due respect, fearless leader.” Kate replied. “I think that this team has a serious problem. I’ll give you a hint. It starts with an ‘M,’ and rhymes with ‘Schmatheo.’ “ 

“Alright, that’s it!” Matheo shouted, and jumped at her. 

Kate calmly stepped out of the way, causing Matheo to slam his head into the wall of the basement, and began yelling. 

“I’m going outside.” Kate said, annoyed. “I need some non-boy shenanigans in my life.” 

“Kate!” Todd called after her, as she walked up the stairs. 

“God, I really can’t stand her.” Matheo muttered, rubbing his head. “Why doesn’t she show me more respect?” 

“Probably because she doesn’t actually respect you, if I had to guess.” 

“And, just like that, I regret asking you.” Matheo said, standing up, and leaning against the wall. 

“Hey, you asked.” 

“Well, forget I asked.” 

“Look, whether you like it or not, we’re a team at the end of the day, and the only way we’re gonna survive... Each other, is if we start by trying to cut each other-” 

“... Cut each other some slack.” Matheo interrupted. “I get it. It’s the same speech you give every time. I know.” 

“Hey, if it ain’t broke.” Todd shrugged. 

“Whatever.” 

“Just... Try to understand that Kate has her own life, too, okay? She doesn’t exist only to annoy you, you know.” 

“Yeah, she’ll also get married, too.” 

“Okay, that’s kind of-” 

“Don’t care.” Matheo said, shoving Todd out of the way, and walking up the stairs. “It’s true, like all girls.” 

Todd put his hands to his forehead, and rubbed it in circles. He took a deep breath in, and breathed out. What would... What would someone who’s good at leading others do? 

“Well that’s easy.” Todd said to himself, sitting on a plastic chair, and looking out the window-well. “They’d probably break down the team-dynamic, find the source of the conflict, and address it.” 

Exactly. And the most obvious, and problematic, source of conflict was between Kate and Matheo. The only way the Katachi League was going to continue was if Todd found some way to patch up their relationship... But how? 

() 

“What... Is this?” Kate asked, as she and Matheo were led by Todd outside of the city, and off the side of the road, in a large, grassy field. 

“You and Matheo are teammates.” Todd asserted, turning to them, his arms crossed behind his back. “But you don’t act like it. You 2 act like an old married couple. One of the bad ones. That can’t afford a divorce, and gave birth to a couple of drug-” 

“Message received.” Matheo said. “But, again, WHY are we out here?” 

“The million-dollar question.” Todd grinned. “You guys have a ton of unresolved issues with one another, so obviously, the only way to resolve them, is to fight it out, away from the city!” 

“Fight it out?” Matheo asked, disgusted. “With HER? No way, she’s not worth the-” 

Matheo was suddenly picked up, and thrown a good 15 feet away, by Kate, who had mutated her arms into HandyMan’s. She chuckled, as he landed on his stomach, and yelled, before pulling a small cactus thorn out of his fingertips. 

“Well, I object.” Kate smiled. “I’d LOVE to fight you.” 

“Finally.” Todd said, quietly. “Through combat, the twins will realize ach others different fighting styles, and become respectful and loving towards each other! This is perfect!” 

“Fine, Katie-poo.” Matheo grimaced, activating his Optitrix, and turning it to the hologram of RexGuy. “You’d better be ready for what happens when you call down the THUNDER!” 

Matheo slammed the core down, and was dissolved in a bright explosion of red light. 

() 

Green and grey rocks began to from along Matheo’s arm, as well as his entire body. A blue, energy-like hand was extruded from his arms, and blue feet from his legs. Various blue, vein-like markings littered the rest of his body as well. Three glowing spikes appeared on his shoulders, as well. Finally, a hardened head, with blue eyes, and a large mouth grew from his body. The Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest, and he grinned. 

() 

“REXGUY!” He yelled, before looking at himself. “Wait.” 

That was all he could say, before Kate ran at him, and mutated her arms into HeatBlast’s, and began shooting fireballs at him. 

“Hold on, new alie-! HEY!” Matheo yelled, as Kate round house kicked his head, and pushed off his stomach, backflipping in the air, and landing on the ground, a light sweat on her forehead. 

“Well, you’d better figure it out quick.” 

“Can do!” Matheo said, putting his hand up, and creating a large, blue, glowing boomerang-like structure from his hand. 

He looked at it for a second, before shaking his head, and throwing it at her. Kate’s arms transformed into PlugN’Play’s, and absorbed the energy, before shooting it back at Matheo, though it had no effect. 

“Great.” Matheo said, staring at her. “Guess we’ve reached a stalemate.” 

“Guess so.” Kate shrugged. “What’s your next move, genius?” 

“Calling it quits.” Matheo sighed, and put his hands up. “Fighting you was kind of boring anyway.” 

“I’m sure it was.” Kate said, rolling her eyes. “Wanna call a truce?” 

“Hell no.” Matheo said, and ran at her, grabbing her by the stomach, and slamming her into the ground. “I’m only getting started!” 

“Me too, then!” Kate shot back, mutating her arms into Refractor’s, and blocking Matheo’s next attack, before a series of diamond-like, cone-esque structures shot out of the ground, launching him into the air. 

Matheo re-angled himself in the air, covering his feet in large, electric boot-like structures, before crashing into the ground below, and creating a large shockwave around him, tearing apart the terrain, blowing it into the air in small chunks of dirt, as well as a large cloud of dust. Matheo grinned, and approached the cloud, only for two long, white, slender limbs to shoot out of it, and wrap around his head, then the next thing he saw was the bottom of a shoe. 

“Gotcha!” Kate shouted, repelling her foot off of his face, and leapfrogging over him. 

“You certainly are a slippery little piece of work!” Matheo growled, angrily. 

“Well, you kind of took the whole ‘big-and-dumb' routine.” Kate replied sassily. 

“Well, I have to give you a chance when it comes to team dynamics, don’t I?” 

“Less talking!” Kate yelled disappearing back into the dust, before blowing out of it, as a fully-formed female HeatBlast. “I’m just startin’ to enjoy this!” 

Matheo shot out a large electric beam at Kate, who surrounded herself in a fiery pillar, which wrapped around, and moved behind Matheo, before slamming into him, exploding, and sky-rocketing him out of the whole, and into a nearby parking lot. 

“Uh, wait.” Todd interjected, his eyes widening. “Could you just stay in the-?” 

“Stay out of this, innocent bystander!” Kate yelled, leaping out of the whole, mostly human, aside from her legs, which had mutated into GoldenGuy’s, as well as his hoverboard. “I’ve got this!” 

“Wait, come back!” Todd shouted after them, as Kate flew after Matheo. “... Cripes.” 

Kate activated her Omni-Kix suit, becoming Yunai, and mutated her arms into HandyMan’s, easily lifting a car above her head, and chucking it at Matheo, who caught it, and tore the car in half, before slipping the halves on his hands, as if they were boxing gloves. He slammed the halves together, a couple times, glaring at her all the while. 

“You really think that’s effective, don’t you?” Yunai sighed, staring at Matheo. 

“Well, why don’t we watch the data in action!?” Matheo yelled, and ran at Kate, swinging at her. 

Yunai grabbed both of the car gloves with her mutated arms, and ripped them off of Matheo, chucking them behind her into the road. 

“Fine.” Matheo said, stone-cold. “You asked for it.” 

Matheo slapped his Omnitrix symbol, and a red glowing separation emerged from the symbol, and covered his entire body, causing it to change shape. 

() 

The electricity within him changed color, becoming purely red, and two large, steel canisters appeared from his back. As well as that, the moss on his stone body disappeared, too. Lastly, steel plating appeared sparsely on his calves, knees, arms, shoulders, and chest. His Omnitrix symbol grew 4 metal spikes, resembling an ‘X.’ 

() 

“OPTIMIZED... SHOCKGUY!” ShockGuy yelled. “Finally got it!” 

“Do I even want to know what his deal is, or are just gonna keep fighting?” Yunai asked, pointing at him. 

“I don’t actually know what his deal is.” Optimized ShockGuy admitted. “But we’re about to find out, aren’t we?” 

“I’ll take that as a ‘keep fighting,’ then.” Yunai sighed. 

“AFFIRMATIVE!” Optimized ShockGuy cried in response, cracking his knuckles, before he was stopped. 

“Yunai, Besu.” Hyu said, walking in between them, and looking separately at the two. “You guys are done.” 

“But, dude.” Yunai said. “I thought we were supposed to be fighting each other...?” 

“In the field, as a way for you two to bond, not-” 

“BOND?!” Optimized ShockGuy and Yunai both shouted in disbelief. 

“With her?” Optimized ShockGuy stuck his nose up in disgust. “Please! I wouldn’t care if she keeled over right here!” 

“Right back at you!” Yunai said, shaking her head. 

“Guys...” Hyu attempted to interject. 

“No!” Optimized ShockGuy interrupted, tapping is Omnitrix symbol, and de-transforming to Besu. “I’ve had enough! I REFUSE to work with you guys! And don’t even get me started on YOU.” 

He pointed at Yunai, glaring at her, before groaning, and walking past her, hitting her shoulder. Yunai spun around, and stared at him as he walked away. 

“Come on, man!” She yelled after him. “Let’s not do this, again!” 

Besu stopped, and turned around, staring her dead in the eyes. “Don’t try to figure me out. I’ve had enough of people thinking they know me.” 

Nobody said a word. 

“You know what?” Besu broke the silence. “I quit. I’m done. Bye.” 

“Wait, what?!” Hyu shouted, running after him, and grabbing Besu’s shoulder. “Hold on! You can’t quit!” 

“I just did.” Besu shoved Hyu off of him. “Later.” 

“What’s his problem?” Yunai asked, walking next to Hyu, crossing her arms. 

Hyu didn’t reply. He didn’t know what to say. After a few seconds, he turned around, and left for the house. 

() 

“To be fair, it was kind of screwed up for you to try and get us to bond, behind our backs, dude.” Kate said, sitting on a beanbag. 

“It’s not like that.” Todd said, grumpily, laying on the couch, dramtically. “I just can’t take you two always being at each other’s throats.” 

“He’s Matheo. He’s at everyone’s throats.” 

“Still. I can’t believe he actually quit.” 

“I can’t believe it took him this long.” 

“Would you cut it out?” Todd asked, blankly. “He was a part of our team, you know.” 

“I always wondered what was wrong with us.” 

“It takes 2 to tango, you know.” Todd rolled over, and pulled his cheeks down with his fingers. “Where is he, anyway? I haven’t seen him since... Y’know.” 

Kate shrugged. “I dunno. Probably just cooling off, or whatever. I know him. When he gets back, he’ll be right as rain.” 

Todd sighed. “I hope so.” 

“Let’s talk about something else.” Kate changed the subject. “Now that we’re a duo, maybe we should-” 

“I’m going to my room.” Todd interrupted, standing up. 

“Uh... Okay. We’ll put a pin in that?” 

“Yeah.” 

() 

Matheo shoved his hands in his pockets, and grumbled angrily to himself as he walked down the crowded downtown streets. A large, stump man shoved past him, and continued on. Matheo sputtered in disbelief for a moment, before sighing, and turning back, before he went back to walking. He walked along the street, before turning a corner, and seeing a large, black, gothic building, with giant, red, neon letters, reading: ‘Tattoos.’ 

“Bingo.” He said to himself. 

Matheo walked up the steps, and opened the double-doors, entering the building. The building was only manned by a single person. He had bleached hair, and was tattooing a picture of a heart, with the name ‘Marla’ in it, on a skinny man wearing a leather jacket. He was humming a tune before he told Matheo to wait in line with everyone else, without looking up. Matheo obliged, and sat down on a chair, with a few other people next to him. He was sitting next to a large man, who only looked at him, before snorting, and looking back at the magazine. 

“You talking to me?” Matheo asked him. 

“Not talking.” The man replied. 

“Yeah, well, I’m not into your whole ‘gruff’ thing.” Matheo said, stuck-up. 

“I don’t care.” 

“You should.” 

“Whatever.” 

“Would you two quiet down?!” The tattoo artist shouted at them, before he saw Matheo, and smirked. 

“Hey, Mutt.” Matheo said, waving at him. 

“Hey.” Mutt replied. 

() 

“I just don’t get it, Fluffy.” Todd said, laying backwards on his bed, as Fluffy laid curled up next to him. “I thought I was supposed to be GOOD at leading. I guess not.” 

Fluffy picked his head up, only to turn it towards Todd’s eyes, and plopped his head on his chest, staring at him. Tod smiled, and stroked his head. Fluffy yawned, and reverted to his original position. 

“Yeah.” Todd sighed, before he slowly got up, and sat in a cross-legged position. “Hey, you know what’ll perk us up? What if we went for a... walk?” 

Fluffy perked up, and began wagging his tail excitedly. Todd chuckled, and grabbed a red leash from his dresser. He connected it to Fluffy’s collar, and opening the door to his room, before running down the stairs, with Fluffy in tow. 

“Hey, Kate!” Todd said quickly, as they passed her. “I’m taking Fluffy for a walk, you’re in charge!” 

“Awesome!” Kate yelled, before she stopped. “Wait... Who am I supposed to be in charge of?” 

She didn’t receive an answer, as Todd was already out the door. Kate slumped down in her beanbag, and sighed, before turning on her phone, and scrolling through her inbox. 

() 

“So what do you need?” Mutt said, throwing his legs on his desk, and reclining in his chair. “Make it quick. New customers could walk in any moment.” 

“I wanna take you up on your offer.” Matheo replied, leaning forwards. “I wanna go with you.” 

“No, you don’t.” Mutt said. “I know you, dude. You’ll change your mind in a couple days.” 

“Not this time.” Matheo said, before pointing to his Optitrix. “If you want proof, I’m willing to let you remove this thing.” 

Mutt opened his mouth, obviously confused, but closed it. 

“I’m willing to leave the Katachi League.” Matheo insisted. 

“NO WAY.” Mutt said, floored. “That’s... That’s real? How’d you-?” 

“Long story.” Matheo replied. “You can have it if you want.” 

“You’d give that up?” 

“I... I think so. When I first got this thing, it was kind of awesome. I’ll admit that. But I’m sick of this whole ‘being a hero’ thing now. There’s too many rules, too much stuff. I quit. And now, I don’t ever wanna step foot in my own home again. I want to go with you, on your fabled trip. You know, like... To Canada, or wherever.” 

“That’s... That’s a lot. THIS is a lot.” 

“I know. But you’re my friend, Mutt. Please.” 

Mutt looked down to the floor, uncomfortably. He didn’t know what to say. But Matheo was right. They were good friends. He looked back to his friend, and cracked a slight smile, before nodding, Much to Matheo’s delight. 

() 

Todd and Fluffy walked through the busy city streets, and looking around at the skyscrapers around them. They’d been out for about 40 minutes by now, and Todd was considering turning around at this point. That was, until Fluffy began barking at a store that was a few blocks away. Todd shrugged, and walked over in the direction Fluffy was getting agitated. He picked his dog up, and crossed the road, before walking over, since Fluffy was finally starting to calm down. 

“Wonder what’s got you all riled up?” Todd asked. “I’ll bet it’s just a butterfly.” 

As they stood outside the store, Fluffy began sniffing the air around him, then began straining, trying to get into the store. 

“Woah!” Todd said, trying to calm him down. “The store? What would you want in there?” 

The door was suddenly swung open, and a stout man in a tan shirt, with a oil-stained apron, striped pants, and a handlebar moustache looked at both Todd and Fluffy, before he grinned. 

“Ah, a pet owner!” He said, excitedly. “I have several doggy-sized products, just for you! … Er... He already went, right?” 

“Oh, uh... He already... He’s good.” Todd replied, slowly. “But, I don’t think I could-” 

“Please, please!” The shopkeeper said, motioning for Todd to follow him. 

Todd shrugged, and entered the shop. It was filled with various knick-knacks, such as ceremonial masks, amulets, several rusted weapons, and even what appeared to be a worn anchor. 

“What is all this stuff?” Todd asked, impressed. “I’ve never even heard of half these things... Is that a bone?” 

“Supposedly it used to belong to a pterodactyl, but I’d take that with a grain of salt... Looks more like a wolf.” 

“Wicked.” 

“So, what are you looking to buy? … Or do you not have money?” 

“I have 7 bucks.” Todd said, but I don’t think that’s enough for-” 

“Son, you can buy anything in here with money, it just depends on how much.” 

“I... See.” Todd said, nodding. “So, what can I- Huh?” 

He was interrupted, as Fluffy began growling, and pulling Todd towards a shelf next to him, filled with novels. 

“Ah. Your dog has a taste for the classics.” The man said. “Fortunately, I think I know just the book for you.” 

“You do?” Todd asked, confused. 

“Yep.” He walked over to the bookshelf, and pulled out a small book, with a series of yellow shapes on the cover, and dusted it off, before handing it to Todd. “Like I said, doggy-sized. I’l bet having him read this would make for a cut Social Media.” 

“Is this what you want, Fluff?” Todd asked, and held the book close to Fluffy, who began pawing at it, excitedly wagging his tail as well. “Well, okay. If it makes him happy, I guess. We’ll take it.” 

“Excellent choice.” The man said, before typing in something into the cash register, before he gasped in shock. “Oh, my. It appears that your product costs 14 dollars! Whatever will we do?!” 

“Oh.” Todd said. “I guess that’s that, then. Uh... See-” 

“Well, wait just a second!” The man said, appearing behind Todd, startling him. “Since this is your first time, I think we could work something out. How about a... 50% beginner’s discount?” 

“Get out.” Todd said, in disbelief. “For real?” 

“Absolutely, my friend... Uh, no refunds, though.” 

() 

“Matheo, I just think you should know one thing.” Mutt said, cautiously, as they left the parlor, and walked down the crowded streets. 

“Oh?” Matheo asked, curiously. “And that is?” 

“I had to make a couple of... Less than desirable decisions in order to get this whole thing off the ground.” 

“What do you mean, I thought it was just you, me, Junior, and Legladon.” 

“Case in point. We can’t use Legladon. He’s clearly unstable, and very volatile. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.” 

“Okay, but-” 

“And Junior’s dipped out. He found a family here. I can’t ask him away from that, just to go on some joyride.” 

“That means I’m the planner, and you’re the pilot... I guess that wouldn’t make such a good team, huh?” 

“You got that right.” 

“Ugh... Fine, then who’d you get?” 

“Uh...” Was all Mutt said, before he was interrupted by his phone ringing. “Yeah? What’s up man?” 

“Who’s that?” Matheo asked, slightly concerned. “One of your connections?” 

Mutt put his index finger in Matheo’s face, and listened to who was calling him. He did, however, switch the phone to speaker. 

“-Did you just do?” The voice asked, gruff, and hoarse. “Did you just put me on speaker?” 

“Yeah. Carson, somebody else just joined the crew. Matheo.” 

“CARSON?!” Matheo shouted, jumping backwards. “Mutt, what the hell?!” 

“Matheo?” Carson asked, annoyed. “I must concur with your previous statement.” 

“Guys, calm down, I-” Mutt began. 

“NO.” Matheo interrupted, and got in Mutt’s face. “You know what he did. He almost got us all killed. He’s totally screwed in the head. You KNOW that.” 

“I know that I need help with this. He was the only guy willing to help. He’s changed since then, you know.” 

“Bullcrap. He’s still the same old Carson. I’m out.” 

“Out?!” Mutt cried, and grabbed Matheo’s arm. “You can’t be serious.” 

“I couldn’t care less. I’m sure you can find a replacement.” Carson said, dismissively. 

“Come on.” Mutt said, pleadingly. “You don’t wanna live in this boring town your whole life, do you?” 

“I-” 

“I don’t care.” Carson sighed, turning off the communications system. “Join if you want, Matheo. I’m willing to give you a second chance. If you don’t, I don’t care. Mutt, meet me at the warehouse in 30. Bring your friend if he decides to join.” 

The call ended. Mutt put the phone back in his pocket, and looked at Matheo, unsure of what to say. 

“... I’ll join.” Matheo said, as if every syllable was a shot to his arm. “Cautiously.” 

“Great.” Mutt said, smiling. “I knew you would.” 

() 

“Hey, Kate!” Todd announced, walking through the front door, along with Fluffy. “You’ll never guess what I picked up!” 

“ ‘Picked up?’ “ Kate asked, suspiciously. “What did you pick up? Dog turds?” 

“Nope. Look!” Todd grinned, showing her the small book he’d purchased. “Isn’t it just precious?” 

“Wha-?” 

“I was thinking it could make a cute pic, for like, the fridge, or something, for Fluffy to look like he’s reading it!” 

“Lemme see that book.” Kate said, snatching it from him, and opening it to a random page, and squinting at it. “What IS this stuff?” 

“I dunno. But Fluffy really wanted it, and-” 

“We can’t let Fluffy use this as his own personal chew toy. Whatever this book is, it’s pretty... Weird. Like some kind of strangeness about it, you know?” 

“No.” Todd said, cocking his head to the side, curiously. 

Kate looked to her side, and saw Fluffy supporting himself with his two front paws against her knee, staring anxiously at the book, trying to lean over and bite it. Kate cocked her eyebrow. 

“... Huh. You weren’t kidding. Maybe it has a beef stick in here, or- HEY!” 

Kate was cut off, by Fluffy leaping onto her legs, and snatching the book with his teeth, before running up the stairs, and under Todd’s bed. Kate and Todd both looked at each other. 

“Well, there goes selling it.” Kate sighed. 

() 

“We’re here, Carson.” Mutt said, binging Matheo through the huge, steel doors. “Hello?” 

“Hey, I joined, idiot!” Matheo yelled into the dark. “Let’s get this over with!” 

The next thing they knew, two glowing orbs emerged from the ground, and swallowed them, levitating them above the ground. Mutt fell against the transparent bottom, grunting in pain. Matheo looked around in confusion. 

“What is this?!” Mutt yelled. “Some kinda trap.” 

“Precisely.” Matheo sighed, shaking his head. “I should have known.” 

“Indeed, you should have.” They heard Carson say, stepping out of the shadows, and smirking at them. “I was expecting Mutt to fall for it, but the infamous child genius, Matheo? Well, that’s certainly an... Unintended surprise. Though, a pleasant one, to be sure.” 

“Let us out of here, this instant, or ELSE.” Matheo growled. 

“Or else he’ll use his Optitrix to beat you up!” Mutt said, butting in. 

“Oh, That’s real?” Carson asked, curious. “Intriguing.” 

“MUTT!” Matheo shouted, turning to him. “What are you DOING?” 

“I was trying to scare him, obviously.” 

“Oh, yeah, I’m very scared.” Carson said, before he held up a remote. “Try any shapeshifting, and I’ll both shrink the orb, and electrify it. It’s a very painful demise.” 

“Nice going.” Matheo sighed to himself, before looking at his Optitrix, and suddenly perking up. “Actually, I may just have an idea.” 

() 

“Mo hasn’t come home yet.” Todd said to himself, annoyed. 

“Cool. I could do without him for a while.” 

“Kate!” Todd groaned. “Come on, this is serious.” 

“Well, he’s not.” Kate shrugged. “He’ll be back in a couple hours, and probably whining about how we didn’t go looking for him. This isn’t his first time running away.” 

“But not for this long.” 

Suddenly there was large blast of purple static electricity from Todd’s room, and the twins both jumped back. Suddenly, a large drawer was flung at them, and they dived to the ground, narrowly avoiding it. 

“I get the feeling that Fluffy’s got something to do with this!” Todd shouted, scrambling to his feet. 

“You think!?” Kate cried in response, motioning to the stairs. 

The twins sprinted up the stairs, narrowly missing a book that was chucked at Todd’s head. When they got to the door, they saw a very scared, and extremely loud Fluffy, surrounded by a purple mist, floating in the middle of the room, along with pretty much everything that wasn’t a bed or dresser. His throat was bubbling, and it seemed to be almost opening in some spots. 

“Oh no!” Todd yelled, and tried to run to Fluffy, but was forced back by a strange force. 

“We can’t get in!” Kate yelled. 

“We have to!” Todd looked back to Fluffy who was doing his best to not look at the twins. “I’m not gonna let him die!” 

Todd activated his Splicatrix, and slammed the core down, and transforming into: 

“SPIDERMONKEY!” He yelled, before shooting a web at his wall, and grabbing onto it for dear life. “Kate, throw me in!” 

“If you say so.” Kate said, mutating her arms into HandyMan’s, before picking up SpiderMonkey, and throwing him into his room. 

SpiderMonkey clutched onto the wall, and looked to Fluffy, who was now howling in pain. SpiderMonkey crawled down onto the ground, under Fluffy, before standing up, and hugging him tightly. 

“It’s gonna be okay little guy!” He yelled. “I’ve got you!” 

As soon as he said these words, the room’s contents began to stop moving, before falling to the ground, Fluffy finally began to stop crying, and his throat was instantly back to normal. SpiderMonkey carried Fluffy back out of the room, and put him on the ground, as he was shaking. 

“I hope he’s gonna be alright.” Kate said, before she turned back to the room. “I wonder what happened in there... Do you think it was that book?” 

“Definitely.” SpiderMonkey replied, returning to human form. “What do we do with it?” 

“Nothing.” They heard a high-pitched voice say. 

The twins both instantly looked at Fluffy, who was still regaining his balance. “Guys, please don’t destroy the book. For once, just listen to me.” 

“GAH!” Kate yelped, jumping backwards. “What the-?!” 

“Fluffy?” Todd asked, kneeling down, and petting him. “Is that you?” 

“Are you talking to me?” Fluffy asked, looking up at Todd. 

“Uh... Yeah. This kind of weird.” 

“No way.” Fluffy looked down at the ground for a few seconds. “I knew you guys could hear me!” 

“Uh, nope.” Kate said. “This is our first time. That book must have done something to you.” 

“That much is obvious.” 

Todd’s Splicatrix started to beep, before it let him know that he had a new message from Matheo. 

“Guys, Matheo’s calling us.” Todd said to them. “I think he needs our help.” 

“I’ll help!” Fluffy said, wagging his tail. “I’ll go get the SpellBook!” 

“Wait, ‘spell book?’ ” Todd asked. “That’s what that book does?” 

“Yep.” Fluffy said, nodding. “I’m pretty good with it.” 

“But how are you supposed to... Y’know... Read it?” Kate asked. 

“I learned a levitation spell, as I think I demonstrated earlier.” Fluffy said, before running out of the room with the book in his mouth. 

“Okay, then.” Kate said, before cracking her knuckles. “Well, can’t get any weirder than this.” 

“Let’s do this.” Todd said, and the three ran out of the house. 

() 

“So, what’s the problem with this picture?” Carson asked, sitting in a spinning chair. “I’ll tell you. It’s that you won’t get over here, already!” 

Carson slammed down the phone, and groaned in anger. Matheo and Mutt didn’t respond. Carson only looked at them, before sitting down. 

“When are they gonna get over here?” Matheo asked to himself, quietly. 

Suddenly, there was a large flash of blue light outside the building, causing the light to flood the room. Hyu, as SillyClone, jumped through the window, and landed behind the orbs, followed by both Yunai and Fluffy. 

“What the eff is the DOG doing here?!” Mo yelled, confused. 

“The name’s Fluffy!” Fluffy replied, jumping from Yunai’s arms, before levitating the SpellBook in front of him. “Reploso!” 

A gush of glowing, purple wind was created around him, causing the stunned Carson to be swept off his feet, and thrown into the desk behind him. Yunai and Hyu unplugged the machines generating the fields, and Mutt and Matheo fell to the ground. 

“Well, it’s about time!” Matheo yelled, activating his Optitrix. 

“I guess we’re never leaving, huh?” Mutt asked, sighing. 

“Oh, hi.” Yunai said, sticking her hand out. “My name’s Yunai. Nice to meet you.” 

“Hey.” Mutt said, gloomy. 

“What do you mean, ‘leaving?’ ” SillyClone asked. 

“Matheo said he and I would be leaving the US, and go to Canada. He promised.” 

“You did?” Yunai asked. “Why?” 

“Guys, who cares?!” Matheo yelled. “It’s time to kick this guy’s butt!” 

Before Matheo could do anything, Carson threw the desk at him, and breaking half over his body. Matheo fell to the ground, unconscious. SillyClone turned angrily back at Carson, and multiplied himself into several versions of himself. The SillyClones swiftly surrounded Carson, before running at him, and attempted to dogpile him, but Carson unsheathed a pistol, and shot a SillyClone in the chest. 

“Gah!” The SillyClone yelled, before fizzling out of existence. 

“NO! Twobie!” Another SillyClone cried. 

The rest of the SillyClones held down Carson, and proceeded to beat him until he became unconscious. Once they were done, the remaining SillyClones merged back into one, and transformed back into Hyu. Fluffy walked over to Carson’s body, and performed a memory erasing spell on him. 

“In case he tries to come after you guys again.” Fluffy explained once he was finished. 

“I doubt that’ll stop him for very long.” Matheo said, groaning as he limped out of the pile of rubble he’d accidentally created. “Carson probably logged all of this crap. He’s super paranoid.” 

“Well, hopefully it buys some time.” Yunai said, crossing her arms. “Now, Matheo, why were you trying to get out of here?” 

“Because of Todd!” Matheo said, raising his voice, and pointing at him. “I can’t believe he tried to pull something like that!” 

“Hey, wait just a-” Hyu began, before Yunai interrupted him. 

“I know. I’m disappointed in him too.” Yunai explained sympathetically. “He was only trying to help, I know, but his methods were kinda... Sketchy.” 

“HEY!” Hyu protested. 

“Huh.” Matheo said. “I guess I overreacted, a little. I’m... Sorry, Yunai. I’ve been kind of a jerk to you, huh?” 

“It’s alright.” Yunai said. “So, you wanna rejoin the team? This time, we can both hate Todd, instead of each other?” 

“I don’t think this is the most healthy-” 

“Sure.” Matheo said, smirking. “I guess.” 

“Well, I’m glad this all worked out, enough...” Hyu sighed. 

“Don’t push it.” Matheo said, annoyed. “Just cause I’m back, don’t think things are all sunshine and lollipops around here.” 

With that, Matheo waved goodbye to Mutt, and left the building. Yunai shook her head, and left with him. Hyu put his head in his hands, and rubbed his forehead. 

“This day’s been too much.” Hyu said to himself.


	6. Chapter 6: The Amalgamation!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Animo has constructed an amalgamation of every single alien in the Omni-Database, but it's gone rogue! Now it's up to the Katachi League to stop it!

Beneath the rubble of a demolished Military base off the coast of Downtown Denver, a few working Laboratories were being run by a few remaining employees, one of them being Dr. Aloysius Animo, one the Katachi League's oldest enemies. He was digging through the rubble of the collapsed roof, and pulled out a picture of an extremely similar-looking man. He sighed, somewhat melancholy.

"I thought I could have surpassed you." He said to himself. "Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be the next Dr. Animo. I changed my name, my appearance, everything, just to become a version of you that could prosper without that meddling fool, Ben Tennyson. And yet, now I must deal with even more foolish, little-"

"Sir!" One of the scientists called to him from outside the room. "You're gonna want to see this."

Animo sighed, and walked out of the room, dropping the picture, to reveal that it was dedicated to an Aloysius Animo Senior. He followed the eager scientist out of the office, and into a large, monitor filled room. There roughly dozens of fellow scientists, all furiously analyzing the data of a single drop of blood.

"What's so important?" Animo asked, impatiently. "You do have a reason for calling me in here, yes?"

"Of course, sir. During your previous battle with those brats, the Unitrix actually spilled a few drops of artificial blood. It did not dry, nor did was it lost in the collapse. We have reason to believe that it may be somewhat indestructible."

"So?" Animo asked, uninterested. "You got some blood. Big deal."

"It's the Unitrix's blood, sir. It contains every single alien sample within her."

Animo suddenly became very interested. He spun around, and slapped both of his hands on the scientist's shoulders. "Oh, do tell."

()

"No, definitely not." Kate said, activating her Omni-Kix program.

"I'm having a hard enough time with these two! NO DEAL!" Matheo shouted, pulling out a large, black spear, with several dozen blue beads on it.

"Sorry, Fluffy." Todd said, stretching his arms. "We don't know how adept you are with magic. And, to be honest, you didn't really do all that much last time."

"But, I found this little gizmo that could attach my SpellBook to my collar, so I don't need to-" Fluffy began to protest, before Matheo interrupted him.

"Hey, is that my 'Grab-O-Tron 3000?!' " Matheo yelled, yanking it off his collar, and throwing it onto his workbench. "Why does everyone around here think it's okay to yank my gizmos! Make your own!"

"Actually, I made that for him, dude." Hyu said, crossing his arms. "As Grey Matter."

"Oh, okay." Besu groaned, and dropped it on the floor, before crushing it under his foot.

"Hey!" Yunai yelled, confused. "What the hell?!"

"I'm the only inventor in this house. If you need something, I invent it, capiche?!"

"You're not the one who decides that!" Hyu said, sternly.

"And you're not in charge of me, remember?" Besu shot back. "I'm in charge of me. You're lucky I even call myself part of this stupid team, you know."

"Keep telling yourself that." Hyu said, angrily. "In the meantime, at least try to be pleasant, and... I don't know, possible for once!"

"Ladies, ladies." Yunai said, pushing them apart. "You're both pretty. Now break it up. That psycho's set the bank to blow any second now, so we don't have time for you guys to argue!"

"She's right." Hyu said. "Sorry, Fluff, but collar or no collar, this is a job for pros. Later."

"But-!" Fluffy protested, but it was too late, as the triplets had already jumped out the attic's window. "...Oh, man."

()

Before he hit the ground, Hyu slammed down his Splicatrix core, exploding into blue light.

()

Hyu's body shrunk down to a miniscule size, and four large, blue, transparent wings emerged from his back. His eyes became one, and blue as well. Hyu's body also became coated in a sleek metal layer, with black separations too. Lastly an Omnitrix symbol grew out of his chest, and he flew around in a small, glowing circle.

()

"HAXIE!" He shouted, before speeding off into the distance. Besu followed suit, and transformed into DogGuy, and tore off down the street. Lastly, Yunai fully mutated herself into a female version CannonBolt, and rolled swiftly after them. DogGuy jumped into a fire-escape, and effortlessly smashed through the railing, landing on the other building, and scaling to the top of it instantly.

"Time to get a little bit daring..." Haxie said to himself.

He then flew extremely low, looping around Yunai a couple times, before flying away, and soaring through a crowd of people, most of whom were either staring, or attempting to capture the Katachi League on their phones. He dodged their heads and faces, before finally arriving at the end of the crowd. Once he did, he flew into the air, before loop-de-looping around a few times in the air, then continuing to fly, the momentum of the maneuver giving him a noticeable boost in speed.

"We're getting close!" Yunai said to her twins through her Omni-Comm. "Get ready!"

"I was born ready!" Haxie shouted in reply.

DogGuy merely slobbered through the comms, not really offering anything to the conversation. Once they'd reached the bank, Yunai mutated herself back into a mostly human form, sans her back, which had grown large, veiny wings, which she used to fly up to the roof, following both DogGuy, and Haxie, who'd practically reached it by now. They looked in through the skylight, and saw that everyone in the bank had been tied up, and thrown to their knees, and were extremely panicked.

"Looks like we got here in time after all." Yunai said.

"Yeah, well, we wouldn't have had to cut it so close if someone wasn't picking fights with pets." Haxie said, before DogGuy smacked him out of the air, smiling.

"Tone it down, Peanut Gallery." Yunai shushed, before she mutated her arms into RexGuy's, and smashed through the skylight, before motioning to the empty hole. "Ladies first."

"Don't mind if I do!" Haxie yelled, and flew down into the bank.

The criminals looked up in surprised, and before they could react, Haxie flew into the bomb's detonator, causing it to short-circuit.

"Gah!" The criminal yelped, and threw the detonator into the corner, before it short-circuited, and sent sparks everywhere.

Yunai landed behind the hostages, mutating her arm into Refractor's, and effortlessly cutting the ropes bonding their limbs together. As she did this, they each ran for the exit, before DogGuy jumped in front of them, growling furiously. The hostages all screamed in terror, before Yunai walked over to them, and explained the problem.

"What my speechless Colleague here means, is that these doors have some odd, dangerous element about them. Until we get it figured out, I suggest you go pop a squat on behind those benches over there, we good?"

The hostages hesitated, but looked back at the criminals, and nodded, before they dived behind the bank's benches. Meanwhile, Haxie emerged from the detonator, and slapped his Omnitrix symbol, and exploded into a blast of blue light, and morphing into:

"BLITZMOUTH!" He yelled, crashing down upon the ground below him, and grabbing the face of a goon in front of him, before flinging him through the front window, onto the street.

"Nice going, Baka!" Yunai yelled, motioning at the broken window. "You keep these guys occupied, while I make sure he doesn't escape!"

"Yeah, go Yunai!" A girl yelled, pumping her fists in the air, as Yunai vaulted through the hole after him.

BlitzMouth turned back to the crime scene, with all of it's perpetrators unconscious. "Uh... Who am I supposed to keep busy, again?"

()

Shortly after he was thrown on the pavement, the remaining goon scrambled to his feet, and dived into a black sports car, with another colleague waiting for him.

"Go, go, go!" He shouted, as he threw a look back at the bank, watching as Yunai landed outside of the bank, and stared directly at them. "Today, man!"

"You're not going anywhere." Yunai said under her breath, and her legs mutated into more spring-like, white, paper-esque limbs.

She leaped into the air, just as the car squealed against the pavement, and tore down the highway, ripping a chunk of the bumper out of a nearby tow-truck. Yunai morphed her arms into PaperCut's as well, and swiftly threw her arms at the car's spoiler, wrapping them around it. She yanked herself onto the trunk, and glared at the escapees.

"You idiot, she's here!" The passenger goon yelled, yanking a revolver out of the glove compartment, and pointed it at her. "Try to shake her!"

The car began swerving, causing Yunai to nearly fall off, but she regained her balance, and steadied herself. The passenger crook then fired the revolver at Yunai, only for her to reinforce her arm into a massive fist, which punched through the bullet, and forced the goon's head into the dashboard, leaving a smear of blood along it.

"Holy-!" The driving goon screamed. "Jake, are you alright!?"

Jake muttered in response, before Yunai grabbed both of them, and threw them from their seats, and onto the sidewalk. The car was pretty much out of control, and to make matters worse, it was heading down a steep incline, too. Yunai hopped into the driver's seat, and stomped her foot on the brake, causing the car to turn to it's side, before flipping over as well.

"Jeez!" She yelped, trying to regain control, but it was too late.

The car continued to collide, before flying into the side of a building, and exploding into a flurry of glass and twisted metal, and forcing Yunai's unconscious body into the alleyway behind it, lastly. A group of people began to gather around the accident, before a group of men in black tuxedoes forced their way through the crowd, and looked down upon her.

"Well, well." One of them said, crossing his arms. "Looks like this is gonna be easy."

"Just shut up, and get her in the wagon before she wakes up, Chris." The other said, hoisting her up by the shoulders.

"Hey!" A middle-aged man cried, shoving Chris a small bit. "What the hell? Whaddya want with this little super-girl?!"

In response, the other man dropped Yunai, and shot him in the stomach, causing the man to drop dead instantly. The crowd dispersed, and began screaming in fear.

"That always makes them more agreeable, huh, Nate?" Chris asked, chuckling.

"Just load her into the wagon, for god's sake."

()

Back at the house, Todd was studying a holographic display of Kate's position throughout the city, but there was no sign of Kate at all. He sighed, and deactivated the program in defeat. He was sitting in the living room, laying upside down on the couch, and had cleared out a bag of crisps. On the other end of the room, Fluffy and Matheo were having yet another disagreement.

"I'm serious, if you'd just lend me that attachment-" Fluffy tried to explain.

"Out of the question, dog!" Matheo interrupted, angrily.

"Try to see things from my point of view, Matheo! You guys are my family, my team! I just want to help my-"

"Family?!" Matheo repeated in disbelief. "Team?! We bought you! You're not a member of the team, you're just a freak accident!"

"Well at least you guys wanted me!" Fluffy shot back.

The two both stared dead into each other's eyes, a clear hatred beginning to brew.

"I don't care what Todd, or Kate, or whoever says. You'll never be a member of the Katachi League."

"Who said I wanted to work with you?!"

"Right back at 'ya!"

"ENOUGH!" Todd said, stepping in between them. "What is this?! What's all this negativity?!"

"Silence, mortal!" Matheo growled. "I have my dignity, my limits. I will never be caught dead working with that mongrel."

"Come on!" Fluffy protested.

"He's right, Mo." Todd said, putting his hand on Matheo's shoulder. "I know you're not over the moon for this idea, but-"

"No." Matheo said, slapping away Todd's hand. "I dunno why we're even still on this. I said I won't work with him, and that's that!"

"You're not in charge, here." Todd reminded him. "Now he's a member whether you like it or not. That doesn't mean you gotta like him, but, come on, are you really gonna pretend like you enjoy anyone else on the team? Just give him a chance. Please."

"It's not like I can disappoint you." Fluffy chimed in. "Your expectations of me are below the ground."

"Fine." Matheo muttered. "None of my friends ever get to join, but who cares?"

"Wait... What?" Todd called after him.

"Never mind. I'll, uh, work on that new 'Grab-O-Tron,' for you, OK, Fluff?"

"Uh, yeah!" Fluffy shouted, happily. "T-thanks!"

"Nyeh." Matheo mocked, quietly.

"You know, I think we got through to him." Todd said, smirking. "Remember this. It's kinda historic."

"You can say that again... Hey, uh, thanks for sticking with me that whole time."

"Oh, don't get me wrong." Todd said, kneeling down, and staring Fluffy in his eyes. "Hero work is no joke. If you're serious about this, you're gonna need training."

"In real combat?!" Fluffy shouted, gleefully.

"No!" Todd cried, mortified. "I mean, like, fake combat. Practice."

"Aw, man." Fluffy sighed. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Last time was a rare case, and you were on, like, the back lines. If you're gonna be on the front lines, with the rest of us, you're gonna have to learn the ins and outs, y'know?"

"Ugh." Fluffy sighed, before looking back up at Todd. "Alright, alright, I get it. So... When do we start?"

()

Kate was hanging from the ceiling of a white, padded cell, in chains when she woke up. There was a large, probably one-way-mirror stretched out on the wall ahead of her, as wel as a large hook holding her to the ceiling.

"Where... Am I?" She asked, drowsily.

There was no answer, so Kate shook her head attempting to wake herself up. As she did this, the chain holding her swayed back and forth slightly, though it showed no signs of giving out. She sighed in discomfort, and tried to wiggle out of the chains, to no avail.

"Hey, what's going on!?" Kate yelled, still regaining no answer. "Somebody answer me!"

She tried to mutate her body, but an extreme shock painfully consumed her, and she screamed in agony. The electricity spread throughout the chain, as well, causing it to last a few extra seconds. She nearly passed out, but remained awake, barely. A voice rang out through the intercom a few seconds later:

"Subject has just attempted to transform. Electric punishment distributed." A few words were clearly recorded later than the rest of the sentence.

"... Electric... Punishment...?" Kate managed to get the words out, before the side of her neck became sore. "Agh... My neck... I feel like I just got a shot, or something..."

"A rather astute observation, child." Animo said, as a section from the wall opened in a door like fashion, and he entered the cell. "Yes, we have been extracting DNA from your... 'Database,' in order to study, and possibly utilize it."

"Animo!" Kate shouted. "So you're behind this!"

"Yes, I am." Animo replied, impatiently."

"Get me out of here, right now, or else!"

"Unfortunately, I will do no such thing." Animo said, sighing. "Though I will admit that the chains are no longer necessary. As soon as I exit, I'll have them release you. How's that?"

"I mean, whatever you're planning with my DNA, you'd better cut it out, Skippy!"

"This conversation is over." Animo said, turning around and walking out of the room.

As the door closed behind him, he walked over to a scientist who was controlling various elements of the room, such as the temperature, electric intensity, and the inflation of the padding.

"Release her." Animo said, and the scientist obeyed, dropping Kate to the floor.

Animo left the scientist, and walked into the cell next door, which contained a large pedestal, with dozens of metal spikes, each curved to point back at itself. Several lime-green beams of light were being transmitted from the spikes into a large, green orb, pulsating in the middle of the pedestal, with millions of different alien limbs, faces, shoulders, abdomens, and every other body part the samples contained, emerging, and disappearing back into the orb, rapidly.

"Amazing." Animo said aloud. "It's made so much progress. It's an amalgamation of every single that little brat has ever wielded..."

"Energy levels are minimal." A scientist said, from above scaffolding.

"Of course it's minimal!" Animo replied, annoyed. "It's got no brain! It couldn't exceed the current levels, unless it can figure out how."

"Right. Just-" The scientist started, before two, large, green eyes emerged from the orb, with rectangular pupils, as well as a reptilian mouth.

"What's going on?!" Animo yelled, stumbling backwards.

"Apparently, one of the aliens had too much intelligence. It must have given the amalgamation a brain!" The scientist yelled, before a large, red muscular arm shot out of the blob, grabbing the scientist, and pulled him into itself, the scientist screaming all the while.

"What the-?!" Animo cried in confusion.

The amalgamation stared at him, and a long, blue, electricity covered tentacle emerged from the blob, and shot at him. Animo narrowly rolled out of the way, and scrambled to the door, barely managing to escape, and shut the door behind him.

"Pull the kill switch, NOW!" Animo shouted, panicking.

The scientist monitoring the room obeyed, and pulled the aptly labeled 'kill switch,' and the room began to glow a bright white. The wires hooked into the pedestal began to fray, hundreds of watts of electricity flying through them, directly into the amalgamation.

"Activate the thrusters!" Animo commanded. "This thing has to die!"

"But, sir, it'll-"

"If we don't kill this thing, it'll break through here and kill us! BURN IT!"

"Y-yes, sir." The scientist muttered, and pressed a large, red button.

8 grey rocket thrusters emerged from the walls of the cell, and the scientist aimed them to get as close as possible to the amalgamation. He breathed out, and pulled a blue switch, labeled 'ACTIVATE THRUSTER TESTING.' As he pulled it, the thrusters exploded flames into the amalgamation, as well as electrocuting it. The intense heat began to crack the windows, as the scientist and Animo gasped, sharply.

"GET DOWN!" Animo screamed, diving below the control panel, along with the scientist.

The glass exploded into the room, smacking into the back of the room, before falling to the floor. When the smoke cleared, the scientist and Animo both peeked up from their cover, meekly.

"Is it... Dead?" The scientist asked, trying to pick the right words.

In response, he was grabbed by his face, and pulled into the facility, whatever held him muffling his cries of pain.

"Nope." Animo said, ducking back down, shaken. "Definitely still there."

()

Todd, Fluffy, and Matheo were all lounging on the couch, watching a rerun of Friends, uneventfully.

"Where's Kate?" Fluffy asked, confused. "Isn't this her favorite show?"

"Probably out shopping with her friends, or something." Matheo yawned.

"The mall's closed today, dude." Todd informed him. "Probably due to Besu's recent mishap."

"Hey, that Hot Dog stand thing wasn't my fault." Matheo said, unfazed. "Besides it saved our butts."

"I wouldn't say that." Todd said, giving him a sideways glance.

"You've always got something to say, huh?" Matheo asked, eyes still glued to the TV.

"I think we should go look for her, just to make sure she's safe." Fluffy said.

"Fine." Todd said. "I'll load up the tracker, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work this time, either."

"Lemme know when that doesn't work." Matheo smirked.

Todd activated the tracking app on his Splicatrix, and to everyone's surprise, Kate was visible on the map, but she wasn't in the city, she was in:

"That base?!" Todd shouted. "What's she doing there?!"

"The museum?" Matheo's ears perked. "Didn't we level that place...?"

"I thought so too. They must have been interfering with her Unitrix's signal. We've gotta get over there, pronto!"

"You took the words right outta my mouth! Time to try out this new costume!" Fluffy shouted, leaping off of the couch, and landing on the floor gracefully.

"Costume?" Todd asked. "We didn't make you a costume."

"Maybe not." Fuffy said, sassily. "So I'll make my own! Forjado!"

As he uttered this incantation, a purple mist appeared around him, before disappearing seconds later. When it did, Fluffy was clothed in a black and violet spandex, with four boots on each of his paws. A Golden pair of goggles rested above his eyes, which were covered in a black and white mask. His snout stuck out, plainly. His ears and tail were both covered in black, and white lightning bolts were portrayed on the sides of his chest, and grey, metallic plates covered his shoulders and knees.

"You guys were doing a pseudo-Japanese thing with your names, right? Then just call me: 'Torrik!'Kinda like the word for 'Trickster!' "

"That's the coolest I've ever seen you look, uh, Torrik." Todd said, smiling, as he activated his Omni-Kixarmor. "And I take it you had a while to come up with that name, huh?"

"It's not bad, I guess." Matheo muttered, doing the same. "Now, let's go get our sister, huh, guys?"

"Right." Todd, now Hyu, agreed. "And this time, we're destroying that base once and for all!"

()

Meanwhile, Kate was still locked up in her cell, listening to the commotion in the other cell. The paint on the padding running throughout the room was beginning to become a sickly, rotten yellow.

"What's going on out there...?" Kate asked.

Suddenly, the remains of a charred, human skeleton were thrown through the wall, before breaking into dust against the wall on the opposite end of the cell. Kate gasped, before turning herself to the hole, and seeing the Amalgamation, which was rapidly gaining mass. The pedestal was beginning to creak from the pressure as well.

"What is that?!" Kate yelled, before she heard the chains begin to shake. "Uh-oh."

Kate looked up, just in time to see the hook that was holding her dislodge, and she fell to the ground. She hit the floor with a dampened impact. As she did, she looked up to see the hook about to hit her head. She gasped, and rolled out of the way, narrowly missing it as it tore through the ground, leaving a small crater.

"Whatever that thing is, it can't leave this place, that's for sure!" Kate said, grabbing the back of her neck, and tearing out a small grey cover, before crushing it with her fist.

"Unitrix transformation capabilities restored." The Unitrix said, after beeping.

Kate activated her Omni-Kix protocol, becoming Yunai. She dived through the window, and stood before the amalgamation, who turned towards her, it's large eyes fixated on her.

"Master user profile, Kate Harrison, identified." It said, as the pedestal finally collapsed under it'sweight. "Must absorb. Beginning merge process."

"Dream on!" Yunai called back, cracking her knuckles, and mutating her arms into DinoGuy's, before she ran at the blob, yelling.

()

"I think it's time to go." Animo said, watching Yunai's brawl with the amalgamation.

He stood up, and began attempting to sneak out of the room, before the door to the lab was covered in a purple glow, and torn off it's hinges, before being launched outside, down the hallway, landing elsewhere with an explosion of noise.

"Nice job, mutt." Besu said, before walking into the room, and staring Animo dead in the eyes. "Oh. You."

"The Katachi-League!" Animo said, relieved. "You've got to help me! I just-"

Besu grabbed Animo by his shoulders, and pushed him against the control panel, hard. "Where's Yunai?! What did you do to her?! Answer me!"

"Put him down, Hulk." Hyu sighed, brushing himself off as he Torrik walked into the room. "He's notgonna talk with a broken spine."

"B-b-broken spine?" Animo asked, horrified.

"It's a joke, egghead." Besu said.

"What is that?" Torrik asked, angling his paw to look like he was pointing to the amalgamation. "It looks like... Every alien at once...?"

"Yes!" Animo blurted out. "We stole your sister's DNA catalogue, and used it to experiment, but the holding chamber must have malfunctioned!"

"So what do we do?!" Besu yelled. "How do we take all 70 zillion of our aliens at once?!"

"I don't know!" Hyu said.

"We had emergency kill protocols employed, but they didn't leave a scratch!" Animo pleaded. "Please, just don't let it kill me!"

"After everything you've done to me, and especially Legladon..." Besu growled. "You want me to let youlive? Is that right?"

"I... I..." Animo tried to articulate his response, but failed.

Besu narrowed his eyes, and grabbed Animo's neck, and swiftly started choking him.

"You're going to pay." Besu said, leaning his head forward. "And you're gonna feel every. Second. Of it."

"Dude, stop!" Hyu said, shoving Besu away, causing him to drop Animo, who slumped to the ground. "What the hell?!"

"He deserved it!"

"Just let him go!" Hyu said, motioning to the cell. "We've got bigger fish to fry!"

"I'm not done with you." Besu warned Animo, as he vaulted through the window.

()

Hyu, Torrik, and Besu stood in the cell, and saw Yunai who was still holding off the amalgamation. She transformed her entire body into a female HeatBlast, and leaped at the amalgamation, which grabbed her out of the air, and began to absorb her. Yunai shouted out, and raised her temperature to that of a star. This heat burned the tentacle, and the amalgamation screamed in pain.

"This is so weird!" Besu said, activating his Optitrix.

"We have to name this thing. 'Omni-Blob.' That's it I've spoken, end of story." Hyu said, and activated his Splicatrix, and began scrolling through his aliens.

"Aw, I wanted to name it 'Omni-Pile.' Is it too late to change it?" Torrik asked, pleadingly.

"Yes."

Besu and Hyu slammed down their Omni-cores, and transformed into DiamondGuy and PaperCut respectively.

"Hyu, now's not a good time to go with a lame guy! Turn into someone else, now!" DiamondGuy shouted, annoyed.

"I've got a plan." PaperCut said, dismissively. "Don't worry."

"Hey, you guys showed up!" Yunai yelled, jumping over to them. "Took you long enough!"

"Thank us anytime." DiamondGuy said, smugly.

"Hey, Hyu, why're you PaperCut? This is kind of a bad time for that."

"I guess it may look that way." PaperCut turned to Torrik. "Torrik, I need you to keep that thing stationary."

"Got it!" Torrik yelled, before taking out his SpellBook, and flipping through it using the Grab-O-Tron.

PaperCut turned back to his siblings. "I need you guys to keep that thing occupied, but when I give the signal, you've gotta get as far away as possible! Torrik, that goes for you too!"

"Okay..." DiamondGuy rolled his eyes. "Well, I've made do with worse plans."

"LOOK OUT!" Yunai shouted, and they dived out of the way as a gigantic, muscular, furry, black, orange, and white hand shot out of the Omni-Blob, and attempted to crush them.

"Here we go!" Torrik exclaimed, before he steadied himself. "Stuitous!"

As he said this, the Omni-Blob became frozen in place, but now began to try to rapidly attack the team, especially Torrik. The Omni-Blob created a large version of Refractors hand, which shot dozens of crystals at Torrik, narrowly being saved by Yunai jumping down, grabbing him, and jumping into the corner of the cell.

"You almost broke my concentration..." Torrik muttered, straining.

"I'll try not to do it again. BESU!" Yunai called, before pointing to Torrik. "I'll give him cover, okay?!"

"You do that." DiamondGuy called, before creating 5, thick, pointed limbs from the ground, which surrounded the Omni-Blob, and tried to stab it, to no effect. "Great, looks like pierce attacks are worthless."

"Keep going!" Yunai shouted back. "Turn into another alien if you have to!"

"Oh, I'm not done." DiamondGuy said. "Not even close.

()

PaperCut had taken to the rafters, and finally reached the middle of the room, above the Omni-Blob. He breathed out, and activated his Omni-Comm.

"Alright everyone, clear out. Yunai, Torrik, you're clear. Besu, you've gotta back up."

"No way!" Besu yelled back, transforming his hands into diamond hammers, and attempting to wale on the creature. "I'm gonna get this thing! Not you second-rate sidekicks!"

"Besu, come on!" Yuani groaned. "This isn't about glory, it's about survival!"

"I don't care!" Besu shouted, before the Omni-Blob grabbed his face, and threw him into the wall of the cell, causing his entire body to crack, violently. "GAH-AGGH!"

"MATHEO!" Yunai yelled, running over to him.

"That's is SO it!" PaperCut shouted, and jumped down, transforming himself into a large dome, barely enough to surround the Omni-Blob.

"What the?!" Yunai asked, looking at the battle.

The Omni-Blob punched through the side of the dome, but PaperCut regenerated swiftly. He began reinforcing the walls of the dome, outwards and inwards simultaneously. Torrik coughed from the strain of his previous spell, but regardless, he thumbed to another page, and found a spell that could further reinforce PaperCut's Dome.

"Iodia!" He called, and PaperCut's Body gained a large, glossy sheen.

"What did that do?" Yunai asked.

"Magician's secret." Torrik said, before collapsing on the floor, tired. "Man, Todd was right. This stuff can be straining.

PaperCut reached his inward limit, so continued expanding outwards, but now began shrinking in size, slowly becoming impenetrable, and reversing the Omni-Blob's frequent, desperate attacks.

"I can't believe this..." DiamondGuy muttered, as his Omnitrix symbol began to flash yellow. "I was shown up by a guy who's plan was to pop that thing like the world's most powerful zit."

PaperCut screamed in struggle, and finally managed to squeeze the life out of the Omni-Blob, causing it to disappear in a massive explosion. PaperCut could no longer continue downsizing, and so reverted back to his humanoid form, just as is Omnitrix symbol started beeping. He exploded in a flash of yellow, and became human again. Kate and Matheo dragged Todd out of the smoke, as he moaned in discomfort.

"That sucked." Todd said, smiling at them.

As he said these words, the laboratory began to shake, and dirt began to fall from the ceiling.

"What's happening?!" Fluffy cried.

"The facility's collapsing." Matheo filled him in. "That explosion must have been the cause... We've gotta go!"

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Todd nodded, and the triplets jumped through the window of the lab, to see that Animo had escaped. "Hey, where'd Dr. Crazy go?!"

"Who cares?!" Kate shouted. "We'll deal with him later!"

"If we survive!" Matheo corrected, as they all ran through the hallway.

"Come on!" Fluffy motioned down the hall. "There's an alternate way out! We'll have to take that!"

The team ran through the collapsing hallway, and ducked into a concrete tunnel, before crawling through. They turned around to see the entire facility completely collapse, as several explosions rang out elsewhere in what remained of the facility. The group all laughed, and high-fived each other.

"What did I tell ya?!" Todd asked, as they resumed crawling. "I told we'd level that place, and consider it leveled!"

"I'll be happy to never have to deal with those creeps again... Sans Animo." Kate laughed.

"And when we do find that creep, we'll-" Matheo started, before Todd interrupted him.

"We'll lock him up." Todd said, sternly. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Well see about that." Matheo said to himself.

The team finally emerged from the tunnel, into the sunlight, forcing them to look away as their pupils dilated to adjust.

"Jeez, I was hoping it'd be night!" Todd sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Ugh... So, Matheo." Fluffy sad, excitedly. "Did I prove I'm a good member of the team!?"

"You're a newbie." Matheo said, plainly. "I don't fall over myself over newbies."

"But, I did alright, right?"

Kate and Todd both looked at Matheo, who rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you didn't die, so... You didn't do bad..."

"YES!" Fluffy grinned, and spun around in circles. "I'M A HERO!"

"I think you just made his lil' doggy day." Kate smirked, nudging Matheo.

"Whatever. Can we go home now?"

"Sure, sure." Todd said, putting his hands up. "Just nice to see you show that you've actually got a heart every once and a while, y'know."

Matheo shook his head, annoyed. "Just, for once, please shut up."


End file.
